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V^ 



BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND 
JOFFRE 

Their Speeches and other public utterances in America, 

and those of Italian, Belgian and Russian 

Commissioners during the Great War 

With an Account of the Arrival of our Warships and Soldiers 

in England and France Under Admiral Sims 

and General Pershing 

April 21, 1917— July 4, 1917 



COLLECTED AND ARRANGED, WITH DESCRIPTIVE MATTER, 
AS COMPILED FROM CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS 

BY ' 

FRANCIS W:' HALSEY 

EDITOR Op'"gRBAT EPOCHS IN AMERICAN HieTOBT," 

"seeing EUROPE WITH FAMOUS AUTHORS," 

AUTHOR OF "the OLD NEW TOBK FRONTIER," ETC. 




FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1917 






Copyright, 1917, by 

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 

(Published in the United States of America) 



Copyright Under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the Pan- 
American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910 



Published August, 1917 



SEP 14 1917 

©CI.A473441 



CONTENTS 

PAGK 

I. THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 1 

How and Why They Came 1 

Mr. Balfour . . 3 

M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre ....... 7 

The Prince of Udine 11 

Baron Moncheur 13 

Ambassador Bakhmetieff 14 

Famous Foreign Visitors of Other Years ... 21 

II. IN WASHINGTON, MOUNT VERNON AND 

RICHMOND 25 

Mr. Balfour in Washington 25 

M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre in Washington . 32 

The British and French in Mount Vernon ... 41 

M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre in the Senate . . 46 

M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre in the House . . 50 

Mr. Balfour in the House 53 

Mr. Balfour in the Senate 58 

Mr. Balfour in Richmond 64 

The Prince of Udine in Washington 72 

The Prince in Mount Vernon 74 

The Prince in the Senate 76 

The Prince and Signer Marconi in the House . . 78 

Baron Moncheur in Washington ...... 85 

Baron Moncheur in the Senate 90 

Baron Moncheur in the House 93 

Mr. Bakhmetieff in Washington 95 

Mr. Bakhmetieff in the House 101 

The Belgians and Russians in Mount Vernon . 106 

Mr. Bakhmetieff in the Senate 109 

Rumanian Commissioners in Washington . . . Ill 



7 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

III. IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 113 

M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre in Chicago . . 113 

In Kansas City 124 

In St. Louis 129 

At Lincoln's Tomb 135 

In Philadelphia 140 

The Italians in the South and West 138 

The Belgians in the West and Far West ... 145 

IV. VISITS TO NEW YORK ....... 147 

M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre at the Battery and 

in Broadway 147 

In the City Hall 150 

In Central Park and in Brooklyn 161 

At Luncheon at the Hotel Astor 164 

At Columbia University .172 

At Grant's Tomb and at the Statue of Joan of Arc 179 
At the Public Library and the Metropolitan Opera 

House 180 

M. Viviani at a Bar Association Luncheon . . . 182 

Mr. Balfour's Arrival 188 

The Waldorf Dinner to the French and British . 193 

Mr. Balfour at the Chamber of Commerce . . 216 

Mr. Balfour at a Red Cross Benefit 232 

At the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and at 

Sagamore Hill 235 

The Prince of Udine in New York 236 

The Mayor's Dinner at the Plaza 242 

A Luncheon by the Merchants' Association . . 244 

A Dinner at the Waldorf 248 

At Garibaldi's House on Staten Island .... 246 

The Last Italian Days 251 

The Welcome to the Russians 255 

An Evening Mass Meeting at Carnegie Hall . . 257 

Another Day's Festivities 260 



CONTENTS V 

PAOB 

V. IN NEWBURGH AND WEST POINT . . 262 

Marshal Joffre's Visit 262 

General Bridges at West Point 267 

VI. IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES . 269 

Marshal Joffre in Boston 269 

Marshal Joffre in Montreal .270 

M. Viviani in Ottawa 274 

M. Viviani in Boston 286 

The Prince in Boston 293 

VII. LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME . 295 

The Last Two Speeches by Mr, Balfour in Wash- 
ington . . 295 

Mr. Balfour in Toronto 306 

Mr. Balfour in Ottawa . 310 

Mr. Balfour in Montreal 320 

Success and Purpose of the Missions 337 

M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre in Paris Again . 339 

Mr. Balfour reaches London Safely 342 

VIII. THE ARRIVAL OF AMERICAN FORCES IN 

ENGLAND AND FRANCE 345 

Our First Preparations for War 345 

General Pershing in London and Paris .... 346 
With M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre at the Cham- 
ber of Deputies 352 

At Napoleon's Tomb — His Sword and Grand 

Cross 357 

American Regulars reach France 358 

Marshal Joffre Interviewed 360 

A Great Fourth of July in Paris 363 



A PERSONAL NOTE 

For the material from which this volume was prepared, the 
compiler has been particularly indebted to the following publica- 
tions: The Congressional Record and the Cansidisin Parliamentary 
Reports ; the New York Times, New York Tribune, New York 
World, New York Evening Post, New York Sun and New York 
Evening Sun; the Washington Post; the Philadelphia Public 
Ledger; the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Herald ; the St. Louis 
Globe-Democrat; the Kansas City Star; the Toronto GZo&e ; the 
Montreal Star; the Richmond Times-Dispatch; the Columbia 
University Quarterly; Associated Press correspondence; the Lon- 
don Times and Morning Post; the Paris Temps and La Victoire; 
and the Literary Digest. 



I 

THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 

HOW AND WHY THEY CAME 

The first of the five commissions to arrive were the Brit- 
ish, headed by Mr. Balfour, and the French, headed by 
M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre, the respective dates of 
arrival being April 21 and April 24, 1917. They had 
come in almost immediate response to the declaration by 
Congress on April 4 of "a state of war" with Germany. 
On April 2 Congress had met in special session to con- 
sider, with a view to grave action, our newly strained rela- 
tions with Germany. Since the severing of diplomatic rela- 
tions on February 3, conditions had steadily become more 
and more critical, in consequence of overt acts committed 
by German submarines in destroying American ships. The 
declaration that "a state of war" existed was passed in 
the Senate by a vote of 28 to 6 ; in the House by 373 to 50. 
Seventeen days later Mr. Balfour landed in America. 
Twenty days later M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre arrived. 

It was obvious that British and French statesmen had 
promptly recognized the motive and the determination with 
which this country had entered the war. News of the action 
of Congress had caused among them profound rejoicing. 
America was declared to have acquired a pivotal position 
in the war. That she would become a dominant factor in 
it was generally believed. This was largely because she 
would come to the work fresh-handed, and because she had 
such enormous resources in men and money, in inventive 

1 



2 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

ability and in manufacturing facilities. Whether or not she 
desired to be in the limelight, that position would now be 
thrust upon her. On what she actually did in war activi- 
ties within a few months would depend her position in 
world affairs for generations to come. 

A great storm of applause was evoked in the British 
House of Commons when mention was first made of the 
American decision. All ranks believed that the President 
and Congress had given to the cause of democracy an im- 
petus that would enable its supporters to shorten a war 
which was rapidly dragging the world to the brink of ruin. 
To the French our decision appeared as the third big Allied 
occurrence of the war, the Battle of the Mame being the 
first; the Russian revolution the second. Our action was 
regarded as an even greater factor in Allied success than 
the stand France had made at Verdun. The event caused 
a greater sensation in Rome than any other since the be- 
ginning of the war. Not even the fall of Gorizia had 
awakened such profound interest. Everybody felt that it 
meant the greatest moral defeat yet sustained by the Cen- 
tral Empires, and that it would soon be followed by a ma- 
terial defeat. 

April 20, the day before Mr. Balfour arrived, had been 
set apart in London as "America Day." The Stars and 
Stripes and the Union Jack on that day fluttered fra- 
ternally from the famous flagstaff at the top of the Victoria 
Tower of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, where 
no flag other than the British had ever before been unfurled. 
The British King and Queen, attended by an enormous 
crowd, went to St. Paul's Cathedral, where they listened 
to a sermon by an American Bishop who chose as his 
text Lincoln's saying that ballots, not bullets, are the true 
weapons of democracy. "A solemn service to Almighty 
God on the occasion of the entry of the United States of 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 3 

America into the great war for freedom" was the official 
description of the function at St. Paul's. About 4,000 per- 
sons assembled there, among them leading British states- 
men, great social leaders and eminent professional men. 
Besides Walter H. Page, the American Ambassador, a large 
number of other Americans were present, including several 
who, in Canadian ranks, had served at the western front. 
There were also official representatives of Canada and other 
British colonies, together with the diplomatic corps of most 
of the Entente Allies. 

In Paris the Stars and Stripes were put out to wave 
side by side with Allied flags. Premier Ribot, in opening 
the Chamber of Deputies, read a formal salutation to Amer- 
ica. Newspapers got out their largest type to express the 
general rejoicing. Great interest was expressed in the 
possibility of an American expeditionary force soon to be 
seen on the w^estern front in France — and particularly as 
to an expected Roosevelt division. Genevieve Vix, a popu- 
lar Paris singer, cabled to Colonel Roosevelt at Oyster Bay, 
asking him to accept an American flag to be stitched by 
women of France and carried as the standard of the first 
battalion raised under his command. 

MR. BALFOUR 

Within a fortnight after the declaration of "a state of 
war," newspapers in New York gave out rumors that emi- 
nent statesmen and soldiers were coming to this country 
on special missions from the Entente Allies — the first hint 
the public had of these historic visits. Among the names 
mentioned were the Right Honorable Arthur J. Balfour, 
formerly Prime Minister of Great Britain, and then Secre- 
tary for Foreign Affairs; M. Rene Viviani, Prime Minister 
of France when the war began, and then Minister of Jus- 



4 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

tiee, and the hero of the Marne, Marshal Joffre. The 
rumors gave rise among Americans to the highest expecta- 
tions, with predictions that the commissioners would re- 
ceive a welcome the like of which had been unknown in 
this country, save, perhaps, in the ease of Lafayette's sec- 
ond visit, in 1824-27. Within a few days the rumors were 
well authenticated, though nothing definite was for a time 
made known as to when or where the commissioners would 
arrive. The activity of German submarines, which about 
this time reached their highest point of intensified and 
unrestricted warfare, combined with the tragic fate of 
Lord Kitchener, off the Orkney Isles, in the spring of 1916, 
while on board ship bound for Russia on a mission from 
Great Britain, had led to the imposition of absolute se- 
crecy as to details. It was not until April 21 that any 
member of the two commissions arrived on American soil. 
Mr. Balfour and his associates and staff, to the number of 
perhaps two score, landed in Halifax, where Mr. Balfour 
issued the following message to the Canadian people for 
publication, after his arrival in Washington: 

I am glad that owing to the chances of war, a dip- 
lomatic mission from Great Britain to the United 
States has first set foot upon American soil in Canada, 
and that it should fall to me, a Scot by birth, as are so 
many thousands of your fellow-citizens, to bear wit- 
ness to the heroism and the patient sacrifices of your 
sons and your daughters. The roll of honor of the 
British Empire has many names upon it which kindle 
our imagination, and in the mention have power to 
knit us all together. Upon that roll the names of 
Ypres and Vimy Ridge will bear witness to the world 
through history that when the cause was just and 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 5 

the peril great, Canada would spare nothing of what 
in peace time men hold dear. 

I know well that heroism and sacrifice are not con- 
fined within the limits of the battlefield. Sir Robert 
Borden has had a story to tell in Great Britain of 
effort, prodigally offered to the imperial cause in every 
township from ocean's coast to ocean's coast, of the 
prudent counsels of provinces and their statesmen in 
matters of administration and finance, of the con- 
trivance of your men of business, of the munition 
work that your men and women have performed. 
Finally, but not least, I would not have forgotten in 
the empire the service of Canada to the work of the 
Red Cross. 

You have combined to the utmost limits of your 
powers, energies, and money in your prosecution of 
the war. In times of reconstruction such as these, 
they form the only foundation upon which empires 
can be built that have any service to offer to man- 
kind. I have been sent upon a mission to your neigh- 
boring State. I think of it as your mission as well as 
ours, and I trust that a representative from Canada 
will join me in Washington. 

The ship which brought over the British Mission was 
guarded by torpedo boats for a short distance from the 
port of sailing, but no sign of submarines or hostile craft 
was seen anywhere during the voyage. The commission- 
ers were met by American State Department ofl&cials at 
Vanceboro, Me. For five days before Mr. Balfour arrived 
in Halifax, a five-car Government train had been standing 
with steam up at a New England station. On receipt of 



6 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

word that his ship had arrived, this train by a night run 
crossed the State of Maine, and at nine in the morning 
reached Vanceboro on the frontier. American officials, in- 
cluding representatives of the army and navy in uniform, 
here descended from their train in a dense fog to a dingy, 
deserted little station, there to wait for the an'ival of Mr. 
Balfour from Halifax. Two hours later his special train 
brought him and his party across the bridge that spans 
the St. Croix River at Vanceboro, a bridge which in the 
early days of the war enemy plotters had laid plans to 
blow up. 

As soon as Mr. Balfour's train had halted, Mr. Breck- 
enridge Long, Third Assistant Secretary of State, mounted 
the rear platform of the observation car and proceeded 
inside, to welcome the commission formally to American 
soil. Ten minutes afterwards the train got under way for 
Washington by way of Portland and New York, and 
guarded as perhaps no other train had ever been guarded 
before in this country. At all bridges and tunnels double 
protection was provided. Every mile of track had been 
gone over within the previous twenty-four hours. No de- 
tail that could betray Vanceboro as the place of meeting, 
or the route of travel from Halifax to Washington, was 
allowed to become public. Boston was avoided and New 
York entered and left by tunnels. 

There was no flaw in the welcome that Washington on 
April 22 extended officially and personally to Mr. Balfour 
and to those who came with him. At 3:10 o'clock that 
afternoon a great crowd had assembled at the Union Sta- 
tion, when at the open train gate appeared a tall, slender 
man of almost 70, with silver gray hair and drooping mus- 
tache, at his right Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, the British 
Ambassador; at his left, Robert Lansing, Secretary of 
State. The crowd cheered with spontaneous enthusiasm as 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 7 

Mr. Balfour passed through a long lane of police to the 
President's room at the opposite side of the station. No 
guest of the nation had ever received a more cordial or 
whole-hearted welcome at the American capital. It was 
all the more emphatic because of the lack of any formal 
preparations for it. As Mr. Balfour left the building, he 
was confronted by thousands of people assembled in the 
great plaza. Along Massachusetts Avenue and Sixteenth 
Street, extending to the Franklin McVeagh residence, which 
had been reserved for the use of Mr. Balfour and his per- 
sonal staff, the streets were packed with people waiting 
to greet him. The Union Jack was flying with the Stars 
and Stripes from windows and from the hoods of motor 
cars at curbs along the whole route. Washington seldom 
gets excited over anything, but when Mr. Balfour came it 
was different. His welcome was attended by one continu- 
ous chorus of cheers. 



M. VIVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFFRE 

The French Commission, which reached Washington a 
few days later, was headed by M. Viviani and Marshal 
Joffre, who, as the hero of the Marne and the defender of 
Latin and Anglo-Saxon civilization against Teutonic of 
the type known as Prussian militarism, was destined to be 
remembered, much as Charles Martel had been remembered 
for his victory at Tours. To M. Viviani and Marshal 
Joffre Washington gave a tumultuous welcome. They had 
landed at Hampton Roads on April 24, whence, on board 
the President's yacht Mayflower, they had gone up Chesa- 
peake Bay to Washington, having had their first glimpse 
of the shores of America that morning at daylight. Amer- 
ican naval officials, with a flotilla of destroyers, had met 
them about 100 miles at sea, a former French passenger 



8 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

liner having brought them over. After signals were ex- 
changed, the destroyers reversed their course and escorted 
the French ship to the Virginia Capes. Not a light was 
shown at night. The vessels knew of each other's presence 
only by the phosphorescence playing about their propellers. 
At dawn they fell in with an American cruiser which led 
the way to the harbor of Hampton Roads. 

Shortly after five o'clock that morning all members of 
the commission appeared on the bridge with the French 
Admiral. The day was magnificent, with hardly a ripple 
on the water. As the Roads came into view Marshal Joffre 
turned to an American naval officer serving as pilot and 
said: "What a wonderful scene. I love this simshine. It 
reminds me of my own country — the south of France." 
Once inside the harbor, the destroyers slipped away to 
anchorages, while every American ship in the harbor hoisted 
to its masthead the French tricolor, and a band played "The 
Star-Spangled Banner." Marshal Joffre and the military 
and naval members of the commission stood at salute and 
civilian members bared their heads. The French national 
anthem was played and saluted in similar manner. 

The French visitors were at once made to see in Wash- 
ington that our traditional affection for France had not 
waned. M. Viviani, the statesman, and Marshal Joffre, the 
soldier, realized before they went to bed that night that 
the cause of France had become America's cause also. It 
was a great day for Washington, surfeited as that city 
had been with spectacles. The day's incidents made a 
deep impression even on staid and seasoned veterans of 
public life, long used to patriotic or partizan demonstra- 
tions. From the moment when M. Viviani and Marshal 
Joffre stepped ashore from the Mayflower at one of the 
great naval workshops of the Government, where men in 
jeans were busily engaged in turning out huge guns for 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 9 

the war, they found themselves among enthusiastic friends 
anxious to emphasize the stirring truth that America had 
gone into the struggle for the cause of democracy and with 
an intention of seeing it through. 

Phlegmatic, unemotional Washington shouted, yelled and 
cheered with a fanaticism that before might have been 
equaled in America once, but only once — at the time of 
the second coming of Lafayette. Through crowded streets 
at midday the visitors went in motors, two troops of Amer- 
ican cavalry galloping briskly as an escort. Secretary 
Lansing rode with M. Viviani and other French officials. 
Marshal Joffre, riding with Ambassador Jusserand, was in 
full dress uniform, easily recognizable because of the many 
pictures of him which had appeared in the American press. 
From the moment when they left the Mayflower, the dem- 
onstration was one of uninterrupted cheering. Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue was packed with people on sidewalks and in 
automobiles in every available space. People shouted, threw 
their hats in the air, waved handkerchiefs and clapped hands 
in a noisy enthusiasm which, with the blowing of whistles, 
the tooting of horns and the clanging of street-car gongs, 
merited description as a royal, an extraordinary, reception. 
It was a tribute not alone to the genius of Marshal Joffre — 
but a greeting to France, the country that had aided Amer- 
ica when she was in need, a reflection of a national desire 
to repay in some measure an historic debt.* 

Perhaps the great decision of the whole war had been 
taken in the last days of August, 1914, when, with armies 
still unready. General Joffre, facing the Germans along the 
line of the Somme, the Oise and the Meuse, ordered a re- 
treat which surrendered Rheims, St. Quentin, Amiens, 
Chalons and practically all of northern France, to the in- 
vader. Looking beyond the moment, General Joffre had 

*The New York Evening Post. 



10 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

seen that, by making a temporary sacrifice, lie might ulti- 
mately win. The story of how he led the German armies 
into fatal strategic positions between Paris and Verdun, 
and, having led them there — having led them beyond their 
bases, ahead of their supplies — how he struck them when 
they were exhausted with the strain of long marches, rolled 
them back and narrowly missed destroying them, is the 
story of probably the greatest feat in modern military his- 
tory—the victory of a million men, ill-prepared and ill- 
organized, who had already been frequently defeated, who 
had fallen back for one hundred miles before a victorious 
army of more than a million and a half, long nourished in 
the tradition of their invincibility, and who had been heart- 
ened on their way across Belgium and northern France by 
victories unequaled in history since Napoleonic times. The 
Battle of the Marne was the victory of smaller numbers 
over greater, a triumph comparable with Valmy, or with 
Marathon, the one a victory of the spirit, the other a tri- 
umph of intelligence. There was lacking to Marshal Joffre 
the numbers and the resources to make immediately decisive 
his victory on the Marne, but what was now happening in 
France — in the spring of 1917 — the ebb tide of German 
occupation — was an inevitable, if a delayed, consequence of 
his victory at the Marne in 1914. The German blow that 
was to crush France forever, the gigantic thrust that was 
to win Teutonic world power, was blocked by General Joffre 
between Meaux and Vitry-le-FrauQois. Maunoury, d'Es- 
perey, Foch, able lieutenants of a supreme commander; 
Gallieni, the Governor of Paris; Sarrail, the defender of 
Verdun; de Castelnau, the savior of Nancy and later of 
Verdun — all these did their part and to them enduring 
fame is assured, but to Joffre belongs the first praise.^ 

1 Frank H. Simonds in the New York Tribune. 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 11 

THE PRINCE OF UDINE 

While all New York was devoting itself to the entertain- 
ment of the British and French envoys, a part of an Ital- 
ian commission quietly slipped into New York unnoticed 
on May 11 on an American liner and was soon housed at 
the Waldorf-Astoria. It was composed of some of the 
most distinguished men in Italy. Enrico Arlotta, Minister 
of Maritime and Railway Transportation in the Italian 
Cabinet, headed it. Its quiet entrance was due to the fact 
that the State Department had not been definitely advised 
of its coming. It slipped off to Washington next day as 
quietly and as unexpectedly as it had arrived in New York. 
It had studiously avoided publicity, wishing to give out vir- 
tually nothing for publication until officially received in 
Washington. 

Others of Italy's war mission reached Washington on 
May 23, headed by Ferdinando di Savoja, Prince of Udine. 
The Prince being a member of the Italian reigning house, 
the Italian mission in personnel outranked that of either 
Great Britain or France. Secretary Lansing and officials 
of the State Department met the visitors at the railroad 
station. Joseph Leiter's home, on Du Pont Circle, in the 
heart of the official residence district, was placed at their 
disposal. This house, as the home of the late Mrs. Levi Z. 
Leiter, had been the scene of many notable social activities. 
Besides the Prince of Udine and Enrico Arlotta, the mis- 
sion included Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor. 

The choice of the Prince of Udine as head of the Com- 
mission had more significance than appeared in the fact 
that he was a member of the royal family. Though young 
— he had just turned 33 — he was no merely decorative repre- 
sentative of the Italian throne. He was known as an able 
and dashing officer, and had come to this country after 



12 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

stepping from the deck of a destroyer in the Adriatic, where 
his flotilla had been close on the trail of Austrian U-boats 
since the war began. The Prince had achieved his captaincy 
and the silver Cross of Valor for extricating his own craft 
from a pack of enemy U-boats and then, after summoning 
his flotilla, putting them to flight. He had been awarded the 
French Cross of War for coming to the rescue of and driv- 
ing off the enemy from a French squadron of destroyers. 
He had scattered an attack from a fleet of aeroplanes, evad- 
ing and dodging by swift use of the wheel twelve bombs 
dropped in the closest proximity to his vessel. When the 
war broke out, he was in command of a torpedo boat flo- 
tilla in the Adriatic, as a lieutenant, and for months he 
went along performing this duty with little prominence and 
less glory. It was a particularly difficult service, since the 
eastern Adriatic coast has many harbors, cities and islands, 
from which to launch attacks. The Italians had no advan- 
tages with which to meet these except skill and courage. 

The Prince was the son of the Duke of Genoa, great- 
uncle of the King, and was now the civil regent of Italy. 
King Victor Emmanuel had left for the front as soon as 
his country entered the war, and had delegated his admin- 
istrative functions to the Duke. The Prince's title typified 
the Italian objective in the war, since Udine is the capital 
of the province of Fruili, which Austria cut in two in 1866, 
keeping that part which was so long known as "Italia Ir- 
redenta." For "Italia Irredenta" primarily the people had 
made war. When created by the King the Prince of Udine, 
the title was meant to be a reminder to the Italian people 
that "Italia Irredenta" had not been forgotten. In effect 
(assuming that France had remained an empire) it was 
as if France had sent as the head of her war commission to 
this country a "prince of Alsace-Lorraine." * 

*The New York Evening Sun. 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 13 

The second man in rank in the commission was Enrico 
Arlotta, Minister of Transportation, a business man and 
director of the General Bank of Naples, one of the three 
most important banks of issue in Italy. He was vice- 
president of the Chamber of Deputies, to which he had 
belonged since 1897. Next to Signor Arlotta in precedence 
was the Marquis Luigi Borsarelli di Rifreddo, Under Secre- 
tary of State for Foreign Affairs, a banker of Piedmont, 
and one of Italy's wealthiest men. As Under Secretary for 
Foreign Affairs, he had been in daily contact with all ques- 
tions of the war touching the relations of Italy and her 
Allies. The fourth member was the inventor, Guglielmo 
Marconi, a Senator of the Kingdom, and commander in 
the Royal Navy. He had been of much service to his 
country in further perfecting wireless telegraphy during 
the war. Signor Marconi was in America when the con- 
flict began and returned to enter the Italian army as a 
lieutenant. With the increase in the submarine menace, 
he had been transferred to the navy, where he brought the 
wireless to greater effectiveness against U-boats. 



BARON MONCHEUR 

The Belgian Commission of five members arrived in New 
York on June 16 and next day went to Washington to 
present credentials and make official calls. They had had 
a pleasant, uneventful voyage, their steamship nowhere 
annoyed by submarines. The commission was headed by a 
distinguished diplomat formerly the Belgian Minister to 
this country. Baron Ludovic Moncheur, who married in 
1902 Miss Charlotte Clayton, daughter of Gen. Powell Clay- 
ton, then the American Minister to Mexico. Another of 
the commission was Major Osterreith, a giant of six feet, 
and weighing upward of 300 pounds, who brought with him 



14 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

a rat catcher from the trenches — a wire-haired fox terrier 
named Nellie, who had "done her bit" in that she had 
killed hundreds of big rats that had made the lives of 
trench fighters miserable and twice been wounded by shrap- 
nel. At the pier in New York the commissioners were greet- 
ed by Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long, and 
at the station in Washington by Secretary Lansing, Coun- 
sellor Polk and Assistant Secretary Phillips of the State 
Department. From the station they were escorted by two 
companies of cavalry to the home of Larz Anderson, a for- 
mer Minister to Belgium, which was to be their head- 
quarters. 

It was understood that the Belgian commission expected 
to confine their inquiries largely to ultimate peace ques- 
tions rather than to any immediate war needs, since the 
United States soon after its entrance into the war had taken 
over the entire cost of the relief in Belgium, the Treasury 
Department in May advancing $7,500,000 per month for this 
purpose. The Belgians came, not to arrange for new armies, 
or munitions, or for vast war loans, but mainly to express 
the gratitude of their stricken country. Emotional and 
sympathetic interest was aroused in the country by their 
coming. They were the envoys of a brave little nation 
which had been first to withstand the invader, a dauntless 
people who had risen promptly in defense of their liberty, 
though the cost of their courage was the ruin of their 
land. Their presence enabled Americans to visualize vividly 
Liege and Namur, Louvain and Termonde. 

AMBASSADOR BAKHMETIEFF 

The Commissioners from Russia arrived by way of the 
Pacific, their train from the coast reaching Washington on 
June 19. They had been met at Chicago by Breckenridge 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 15 

Long. In Washington they were met by Secretary Lansing 
and other officials, and taken to the home of David Hennen 
Jennings, on Sheridan Circle, escorted by two troops of 
United States cavalry, the route being by way of the Cap- 
itol grounds, Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixteenth Street. 
Washington opened its arms with warmth and enthusiasm 
to this mission, which was headed by the new Ambassador, 
Boris Bakhmetieff. They were escorted through streets lined 
with cheering people and honking automobiles. It was a 
welcome meant to be expressive of the country's response 
to the democratic upheaval that had taken place in Russia. 
The commissioners presented an impressive sight as they 
alighted from the train, several being in Russian uniform 
of khaki coat, blue trousers and black knee boots. Since 
the retirement of the former Ambassador George Bakh- 
metieff, who was not related to the head of the present 
mission, the Russian Embassy had been closed, but now 
open again, it was decorated with the Russian commercial 
flag of horizontal white, blue and red, and with the Stars 
and Stripes. 

The coming of the Russian mission promised to have an 
important influence in bringing order and efficiency out 
of the rather chaotic state into which administrative affairs 
in Russia had been plunged by the Revolution, and which 
for weeks had caused great concern among the Entente 
Allies. Already the United States had taken steps to aid 
in righting matters, first by making Russia a large loan 
with which to meet pressing obligations, and then by send- 
ing a mission to Petrograd with Elihu Root at the head 
as Embassador Extraordinary and with General Scott, Chief 
of Staff of our Army, as another member. While the Rus- 
sian mission was on its way from the Pacific Coast to Wash- 
ington, Mr. Root, whom it had passed somewhere on its 
journey of five weeks, had made in Petrograd an elo- 



16 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

quent, if not historic, address to the Council of Ministers, 
as follows: 

Mr. President and Members of the Council of Min- 
isters: The mission for which I have the honor to 
speak is charged by the Government and people of 
the United States of America with a message to the 
Government and people of Russia. The mission comes 
from a democratic republic. Its members are com- 
missioned and instructed by a President who holds 
his high office as Chief-Executive of more than 100,- 
000,000 free people by virtue of popular election, 
in which more than 18,000,000 votes were freely cast 
and fairly counted pursuant to law, by universal, 
equal, direct and secret suffrage. 

For 140 years our people have been struggling 
with the hard problems of self-government. With 
many shortcomings, many mistakes, many imperfec- 
tions, we still have maintained order and respect for 
law, individual freedom and national independence. 
Under the security of our own laws we have grown 
in strength and prosperity. But we value our free- 
dom more than wealth. We love liberty, and we 
cherish above all our possessions the ideals for which 
our fathers fought and suffered and sacrificed that 
America might be free. 

We believe in the competence of the power of de- 
mocracy and in our heart of hearts abides faith in the 
coming of a better world in which the humble and op- 
pressed of all lands may be lifted up by freedom to 
a heritage of justice and equal opportunity. 

The news of Russia's new found freedom brought 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 17 

to America universal satisfaction and joy. From all 
the land sympathy and hope went out to the new sister 
in the circle of democracies. And the mission is sent 
to express that feeling. 

The American democracy sends to the democracy 
of Russia a greeting of sympathy, friendship, brother- 
hood, Godspeed. Distant America knows little of 
the special conditions of Russian life which must 
give form to the government and laws which you are 
about to create. As we have developed our institu- 
tions to serve the needs of our national character and 
life, so we assume that you will develop your insti- 
tutions to serve the needs of Russian character and 
life. 

As we look across the sea we distinguish no party, 
no class. We see great Russia as a whole, as one 
mighty, striving, aspiring democracy. "We know the 
self-control, essential kindliness, strong common sense, 
courage and noble idealism of the Russian character. 
We have faith in you all. We pray for God's bless- 
ing upon you all. 

We believe you will solve your problems, that you 
will maintain your liberty, and that our two great 
nations will march side by side in the triumphant 
progress of democracy until the old order everywhere 
has passed away and the world is free. 

One fearful danger threatens the liberty of both 
nations. The armed forces of a military autocracy 
are at the gates of Russia and the Allies. The tri- 
umph of German arms will mean the death of liberty 
in Russia. No enemy is at the gates of America, but 



18 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

America has come to realize that the triumph of Ger- 
man arms means the death of liberty in the world; 
that we who love liberty and would keep it must fight 
for it, and fight for it now when the free democracies 
of the world may be strong in union, and not delay 
until they may be beaten down separately in succes- 
sion. 

So America sends another message to Russia — that 
we are going to fight, and have already begun to fight, 
for your freedom equally with our own, and we ask 
you to fight for our freedom equally with yours. We 
would make your cause ours and our cause yours, and 
with a common purpose and mutual helpfulness of a 
firm alliance make sure of victory over our common 
foe. 

You will recognize your own sentiments and pur- 
poses in the words of President "Wilson to the Ameri- 
can Congress when on the second of April last he 
advised a declaration of war against Germany. He 
said: 

**We are accepting this challenge of hostile pur- 
pose because we know that in such a Government (the 
German Government) following such methods we can 
never have a friend; and that in the presence of its 
organized power, always lying in wait to accomplish 
we know not what purpose, there can be no assured 
security for the democratic governments of the world. 

* ' We are now about to accept the gage of battle with 
this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, 
spend the whole force of the nation to check and nul- 
lify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 19 

that we see the facts with no veil of false pretense 
about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of 
the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the 
German peoples included; for the rights of nations, 
great and small, and the privilege of men everywhere 
to choose their way of life and of obedience. 

' ' The world must be made safe for democracy. Its 
peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of 
political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. 
We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no in- 
demnities for ourselves, no material compensation for 
the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one 
of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall 
be satisfied when those rights have been made as se- 
cure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make 
them." 

And you will see the feeling toward Russia with 
which America has entered the great war in another 
clause of the same address. President Wilson further 
declared : 

"Does not every American feel that assurance has 
been added to our hope for the future peace of the 
world by the wonderful and heartening things that 
have been happening within the last few weeks in 
Russia? Russia was known by those who knew her 
best to have been always in fact democratic at heart 
in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the inti- 
mate relationships of her people that spoke their nat- 
ural instinct, their habitual attitude toward life. The 
autocracy that crowned the summit of her political 
structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was 



20 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in 
origin, character or purpose, and now it has been 
shaken off and the great, generous Russian people 
have been added, in all their native majesty and 
might, to the forces that are fighting for freedom 
in the world, for justice and for peace. Here is a fit 
partner for a league of honor. ' ' 

That partnership of honor in the great struggle for 
human freedom, the oldest of the great democracies, 
now seeks in fraternal union with the youngest, prac- 
tical and specific methods and the possibilities of our 
Allies' cooperation, the members of the mission would 
be glad to discuss with the members of the Govern- 
ment of Russia. 

That the conference held here, as well as the one which 
the Root commission was having at Petrograd, would re- 
move all prospects of a separate peace between Russia and 
Germany was the earnest hope, not only of President Wil- 
son and his advisers, but of authorities in all the Allied 
capitals. 

Every arrangement was made in Washington to ac- 
cord the visitors all possible honors. Officials hoped that 
during the conferences plans of cooperation could be 
worked out between the two governments that would make 
possible offensive military operations by the Russians sooner 
than hitherto anticipated. A general offensive on all fronts 
at this time, it was felt, would be of tremendous advantage 
to the Allies. The dethronement of King Constantine of 
Greece, and the military maneuvers which had apparently 
since then been carried out by the Entente forces in Mace- 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 21 

donia, seemed to have paved the way for an allied drive 
into Serbia. 

Under the original plans of the Allies such a move- 
ment was to have been started simultaneously with a drive 
through Transylvania by the Russians from the northeast, 
the combined movements having in view a nipping in two 
of the line of communications between Berlin and Constan- 
tinople. Plans of this sort, however, were frustrated late in 
1916 by the collapse of the Rumanians and by pro-German 
intrigues in the Czar's court, which brought about a break- 
down in the Russian supply system after General Brusiloff's 
brilliant offensive early in 1916. 

FAMOUS FOREIGN VISITORS OF OTHER YEARS 

The five commissions in coming here had made a new de- 
parture in the world's history. The subject about which 
they were to confer was not how to apportion among their 
own states conquered territory, but how to restore terri- 
tory to its original owners and how to make mankind se- 
cure in a long spell of peace. In the history of the United 
States there had been no precedent for the visits, nothing 
that resembled them even remotely. Of all distinguished 
Europeans coming here, the most had come as tourists or 
sight-seers. One or two had come for political purposes, 
but none came vested with actual authority, or as officially 
representing a nation that had sent him. Two men, each 
of whom afterward became King of England, had been 
here, but they came under widely different circumstances. 
William IV, as a young man, yet uncrowned, came to help 
conquer us in the War of 1812, and narrowly escaped a 
longer stay, for sincere efforts were made to capture him. 
Edward VII came as a boy, but only to see the country 
as part of his education; he had a reception that is still 



22 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

memorable in our annals. Eminent statesmen had been 
here, the most eminent of all, probably, Li Hung Chang. 
Of English statesmen, the most noted was probably Jo- 
seph Chamberlain, but he came on no errand of public 
significance. One who was afterwards to become King of 
the French came in Louis Philippe, but he made his visit 
as a political refugee, and so afterward did Jerome Bona- 
parte. A contemporary of both, and greater than either, 
was Talleyrand, but he came before he was famous, and 
merely as a refugee from the Reign of Terror. One who 
was destined for the French throne, but never ascended it, 
the Prince de Joinville, was in the country twice; once as 
a part of his education; twenty years later as an officer on 
McClellan's staff, where also served another royal Prince 
and possible King, the Comte de Paris. It was curious to 
remember that Count Zeppelin had been here as an ob- 
server of the Civil War, and that Garibaldi had fled to this 
country during an intermission between Italian defeat and 
victory, living in simplicity on Staten Island, where he 
made a livelihood by making candles. 

Besides these were other old-world celebrities, famous or 
notorious, who came for safety, or to see the country, and 
some few on political errands. Louis Kossuth arrived in 
1851 for the purpose of enlisting our aid for Hungary, 
but all he received was banquets and compliments. The 
visit of the Grand Duke Alexis had a political flavor, but 
it was only an incident in a rapprochement between us 
and Russia that had grown out of Russia's endeavor to 
secure this country against European intervention during 
the Civil War. When Prince Plenry of Prussia came he 
was on an ostensibly social errand, but really on a faintly 
political one. The German Emperor had hoped that to 
honor us with a visit from his brother might make us well- 
disposed toward future German movements on the Conti- 



THE COMING OF THE FIVE COMMISSIONS 23 

nent, and was naturally annoyed to find his labor fruit- 
less. We sought, in our uncouth way, to give the Prince a 
good time, but remained averse to the objects of his im- 
perial brother. None of these visits, however, offered the 
least opportunity for a comparison with the visits of 1917 — 
not even the visit of Lafayette in 1823-25, which to most 
American minds was recalled when M. Viviani and Marshal 
Joffre arrived. But there was no political significance in 
Lafayette's visit. It was merely personal and symbolical.^ 
In the visits of 1917 was seen the burning away of old 
distrusts and hatreds among once hostile peoples, now 
banded together in a spiritual, as well as a military, alli- 
ance against the Central Powers. Great Britain and France 
had forgotten their ancient feuds. Great Britain and Russia 
their territorial jealousies, Russia and Japan their quarrels 
in Asia, while the United States, brushing aside old wrongs 
and recent suspicions, had stepped into line beside Great 
Britain and Japan in a great alliance whose dominant 
purpose was to make the world "safe for democracy." As 
visible symbols of this new spirit of international brother- 
hood among former foes had been seen for almost three 
years the flags of the Entente Allies flying side by side in 
foreign capitals, but now was seen the perhaps stranger 
sight of the Stars and Stripes flying beside the ynion Jack 
above the Parliament Buildings at Westminstei', and at 
Ottawa, in Canada, and beside the Tricolor on the Eiffel 
Tower, in Paris.^ Some words Mr. Balfour had uttered 
twenty-one years before, were recalled to mind at this 
time and widely read. Addressing the British Parliament 
in 1896, on the tense situation then existing between Vene- 
zuela and British Guiana, he had uttered this startlingly 
prophetic sentence: 

1 The New York Times. 
*The Literary Digest. 



24 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

It cannot be but that those whose national roots 
go down into the same past as ours, who share our 
language, our literature, our laws, our religion, 
everything that makes a nation great — it cannot be 
but that a time will come when they will feel that we 
and they have a common duty to perform, a common 
office to fulfill, among the nations of the world. 



II 

IN WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 

MR. BALFOUR IN WASHINGTON 

Unable for diplomatic reasons to grant a regular inter- 
view with the press before presenting himself to President 
Wilson, Mr. Balfour, after reaching Washington, consented 
on April 22 to give out for publication a few words as to 
his general hopes for the conference and the fundamental 
purposes behind it, as follows : 

All will agree that my first duty as head of a dip- 
lomatic mission is to pay my respects to the head of 
the State to which I have been sent, and no public 
expression of opinion on points of policy would, I 
think, be useful or even tolerable until I have had the 
honor of conferring with your President and learning 
his views. I have not come here to make speeches or 
indulge in interviews, but to do what I can to make 
cooperation easy and effective between those who 
are striving with all their power to bring about a 
lasting peace by the only means that can secure it, 
namely, a successful war. 

Without, however, violating the rule I have just 
laid down, there are two things which I may permit 
myself to say: One on my own behalf, the other on 
behalf of my countrymen in general. 

25 



26 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

On my own behalf let me express the deep gratifi- 
cation I feel at being connected in any capacity what- 
ever with events which associate our countries in a 
common effort for a great ideal. 

On behalf of my countrymen, let me express our 
gratitude for all that the citizens of the United States 
of America have done to mitigate the lot of those who, 
in the allied countries, have suffered from the cruelties 
of the most deliberately cruel of all wars. To name 
no others, the efforts of Mr. Gerard to alleviate the 
condition of British and other prisoners of war in 
Germany and the administrative genius which Mr. 
Hoover has ungrudgingly devoted to the relief of the 
unhappy Belgians and French in the territories still 
in enemy occupation, will never be forgotten, while 
an inexhaustible stream of charitable effort has sup- 
plied medical and nursing skill to the service of the 
wounded and the sick. 

These are the memorable doings of a beneficent neu- 
trality. But the days of neutrality are, I rejoice to 
think, at an end, and the first page is being turned in 
a new chapter in the history of mankind. 

Your President, in a most apt and vivid phrase, has 
proclaimed that the world must be made safe for 
democracy. Democracies, wherever they are to be 
found, and not least the democracies of the British 
Empire, will hail the pronouncement as a happy 
augury. 

That self-governing communities are not to be 
treated as negligible simply because they are small, 
that the ruthless domination of one unscrupulous 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 27 

power imperils the future of civilization and tlie lib- 
erties of mankind, are truths of political ethics which 
the bitter experiences of war are burning into the 
souls of all freedom-loving peoples. That this great 
people should have thrown themselves whole-heartedly 
into this mighty struggle, prepared for all the efforts 
and sacrifices that may be required to win success for 
this most righteous cause, is an event at once so happy 
and so momentous that only the historian of the fu- 
ture will be able, as I believe, to measure its true pro- 
portions. 

After he had been formally presented to President Wil- 
son, Mr. Balfour, on April 24, permitted the newspaper 
correspondents to be presented to him. When the intro- 
ductions were completed, he made the following address: 

Gentlemen, I am very much obliged to you for com- 
ing here to-day and giving me the opportunity of ex- 
pressing to you personally, and through you to the 
great American public, how very deeply we, who be- 
long to this mission sent from Britain, value the kind- 
ness, the enthusiasm, the warmth of welcome which we 
have received in this capital city of the United States. 
All our hearts are gratified and touched personally. 
We are even more deeply touch by it as being the 
outward and visible manifestation of sympathetic 
emotion in carrying out and responding to a great 
call, which is the real security for our success. 

No man who has had the opportunity which I have 
enjoyed in the last few days of seeing, hearing, and 
talking to leading members of your State can for one 



28 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

moment doubt the full determination of the Ameri- 
can people to throw themselves into the greatest con- 
flict which has ever been waged in this world. I do 
not suppose that it is possible for you — I am sure it 
would not be possible for me, were I in your place — 
to realize in detail, in concrete detail, all that the war 
means to those who have been engaged in it for now 
two years and a half. That is a feeling which comes, 
and can only come, by actual experience. We on the 
other side of the Atlantic have been living in an at- 
mosphere of war since August, 1914, and you cannot 
move about the streets, you cannot go about your daily 
business, even if your affairs be disassociated with the 
war itself, without having evidences of the war 
brought to your notice every moment. 

I arrived here on Sunday afternoon and went out 
in the evening after dark, and I was struck by a 
somewhat unusual feeling which at the first moment I 
did not analyze ; and suddenly it came upon me that 
this was the first time for two years and a half or 
more when I had seen a properly lighted street. There 
is not a street in London, there is not a street in any 
city of the United Kingdom, in which after dark the 
whole community is not wrapped in a gloom exceed- 
ing that which must have existed before the invention 
of gas or electric lighting. But that is a small matter, 
and I only mention it because it happened to strike 
me as one of my earliest experiences in this city. 

Of course, the more tragic side of war is never, and 
cannot ever be, absent from our minds. I saw with 
great regret this morning in the newspapers that the 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 29 

son of Bonar Law, our Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
was wounded and missing in some of the operations 
now going on in Palestine, and I instinctively cast my 
mind back to the losses of this war in all circles, but 
as an illustration it seems to me impressive. I went 
over the melancholy list, and, if my memory serves 
me right, out of the small number of Cabinet Minis- 
ters, men of Cabinet rank who were serving the State 
when the war broke out in August, 1914, one has been 
killed in action, four at least have lost sons, and now 
Bonar Law 's son is wounded and missing — not, I hope, 
lost to us, but still in a position from which he may 
not return to his friends. That is the sort of things 
that have happened in quite a small and narrowly 
restricted class of men, but it is characteristic of what 
is happening throughout the whole country. 

The condition of France in that respect is evidently 
even more full of sorrow and tragedy than our own, 
because we had not a great army, we had but a small 
army when war broke out, whereas the French army 
was of the great continental type, was on a war foot- 
ing, and was, from the very inception of military 
operations, engaged in sanguinary conflict with the 
common enemy. 

We have to-day amongst us a mission from France. 
I doubt not — indeed, I am fully convinced — that they 
will receive a welcome not less warm, not less heart- 
felt, than that which you have so generously and en- 
couragingly extended to us. That was and certainly 
will be increased by the reflection that one member of 
the mission is Marshal Joffre, who will go down 



30 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

througli all time as the general in command of the 
Allied forces at one of the most critical moments in 
the world 's history. I remember when I was here be- 
fore there was a book which was given out in the 
schools called ''The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the 
World.'' I do not know whether they all quite de- 
serve that title, but there can be no doubt or question 
whatever that among the decisive battles of the world, 
the Battle of the Marne was the most decisive. It was 
a turning point in the history of mankind, and I 
rejoice that the hero of that event is to-day coming 
among us and will join us, the British nation, in lay- 
ing before the people of the United States our grati- 
tude for the sympathy which they have shown and are 
showing, and our warm confidence in the value of the 
assistance which they are affording the allied cause. 

Gentlemen, I do not believe that the magnitude of 
that assistance can by any possibility be exaggerated. 
I am told that there are some doubting critics who 
seem to think that the object of the mission of France 
and Great Britain to this country is to inveigle the 
United States out of its traditional policy, and to 
entangle it in formal alliances, secret or public, with 
European powers. I cannot imagine any rumor with 
less foundation, nor can I imagine a policy so utterly 
unnecessary. 

Our confidence in this assistance which we are go- 
ing to get from this community is not based upon such 
shallow considerations as those which arise out of 
formal treaties. No treaty could increase the un- 
doubted confidence with which we look to the United 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 31 

States, who, having come into the war, are going to 
see the war through. If there is any certainty in hu- 
man affairs, that is certain. 

Two years and a half have gone since the war be- 
gan, and the great public on this side of the Atlantic 
has been watching, with deepening interest, the blood- 
stained drama going on across the ocean, and I am 
well convinced that as each month has passed, so has 
the conviction grown among you that after all it is 
no small or petty interest that is involved in this war, 
it is no struggle for so many square miles of territory, 
for some acquisition, some satisfaction of small na- 
tional ambition. It was nothing short of the full con- 
sciousness that the liberties of mankind are really in- 
volved in the issue of this struggle that was animating 
the allied countries. 

With such a cause the American public has always 
been in full sympathy, and now, after watching it 
through all these months, you have found yourselves 
impelled to join in the great conflict. I feel perfectly 
certain that you will throw into it all your unequaled 
resources, all your powers of invention, of production, 
all your man power, all the resources of that country 
which has greater resources than any other country in 
the world, and already having come to the decision, 
nothing will turn you from it but success crowning 
our joint efforts. 

This expresses the sentiments with which I have 
been animated ever since I came to this city — my sen- 
timent of gratitude, my sentiment of hope. 

Allow me to thank you most heartily again for hav- 



32 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

ing come here for this brief interview, and to express 
my gratitude for what you have done, and my firm 
confidence that all of you will, wielding the great 
power you do, exercise it in the convincing cause of 
justice, truth, and peace. 

M. VrVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFFRE IN WASHINGTON 

M. Viviani on the following day made to the newspaper 
correspondents a statement on behalf of himself and the 
other members of the French mission, as follows: 

I promised to receive you after having reserved, as 
elementary courtesy required, my first communication 
solely for the President. I have just had the honor, 
which I shared with the other members of the mission, 
of being received by him. I am indeed happy to have 
been chosen to present the greetings of the French 
Republic to the illustrious man whose name is in 
every French mouth to-day, whose incomparable mes- 
sage is at this very hour being read and commented 
upon in all our schools as the most perfect charter of 
human rights, and which so fully expresses the virtues 
of your race — long-suffering patience before appealing 
to force, and force to avenge that long-suffering pa- 
tience when there can be no other means. 

Since you are here to listen to me, I ask you to re- 
peat a thousandfold the expression of our deep grat- 
itude for the enthusiastic reception the American peo- 
ple has granted us in Washington. It is not to us, but 
to our beloved and heroic France that the reception 
was accorded. We were proud to be her children in 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 33 

those unforgettable moments when we read in the 
radiance of the faces we saw the noble sincerity of 
your hearts, and I desire to thank also the press of 
the United States, represented by you. I fully realize 
the ardent and disinterested help you have given by 
your tireless propaganda in the cause of right ; I know 
your action has been incalculable. Gentlemen, I thank 
you. 

We have come to this land to salute the American 
people and its Government, to call to fresh vigor our 
life-long friendship, sweet and cordial in the ordinary 
course of our lives, and which these tragic hours have 
raised to all the ardor of brotherly love — a brotherly 
love which in these last years of suffering has multi- 
plied its most touching expressions. You have given 
help, not only in treasure, in every act of kindness 
and good-will; for us your children have shed their 
blood and the names of your sacred dead are inscribed 
forever in our hearts. And it was with a full knowl- 
edge of the meaning of what you did that you acted. 
Your inexhaustible generosity was not the charity of 
the fortunate to the distressed ; it was an affirmation 
of your conscience, a reasoned approval of your judg- 
ment. 

Your fellow-countrymen knew that under the sav- 
age assault of a nation of prey which has made of war, 
to quote a famous saying, its national industry, we 
were upholding with our incomparable allies, faithful 
and valiant to the death, with all those who are fight- 
ing shoulder to shoulder with us on the firing line, 
the sons of indomitable England, a struggle for the 



34 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

violated rights of man, for that democratic spirit 
which the forces of autocracy were attempting to 
crush throughout the world. We are ready to carry 
that struggle on to the end. 

And now, as Pesident Wilson has said, the Republic 
of the United States rises in its strength as a champion 
of right and rallies to the side of France and her 
allies. Only our descendants, when time has removed 
them sufficiently far from present events, will be able 
to measure the full significance, the grandeur of a 
historic act which has sent a thrill through the whole 
world. From to-day on all the forces of freedom are 
let loose. And not only victory, of which we were 
already assured, is certain; the true meaning of vic- 
tory is made manifest ; it can not be merely a fortu- 
nate military conclusion to this struggle, it will be the 
victory of morality and right, and will forever secure 
the existence of a world in which all our children shall 
draw free breath in full peace and undisturbed pur- 
suit of their labors. 

To accomplish this great work, which will be car- 
ried to completion, we are about to exchange views 
with the men in your Government best qualified to 
help. The cooperation of the Republic of the United 
States in this world conflict is now assured. We work 
together as freemen who are resolved to save the ideals 
of mankind. 

Three days later Marshal Joffre met the Washington 
correspondents who by arrangement called on bim at his 
residence. After they had assembled in the house, a door 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 35 

at the end of the room farthest away from where the cor- 
respondents stood was opened, and the Marshal walked in, 
accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Jean Fabry, "the Blue 
Devil of France," his Chief of Staff, and other officers of 
the commission. The famous soldier, wearing his uniform 
— a blue jacket, brilliant red trousers, and leather puttees — 
took a position at the head of the council table, while his 
callers crowded nearer. Each man's name and the name of 
his newspaper were repeated to the Marshal, after which 
there was a clasping of hands, and, in the case of corre- 
spondents who spoke French, a word or two of greeting. 
Then the Marshal took from the pocket of his jacket two 
typewritten sheets of paper and began to read from them 
in French, with his head bowed a little, and the sheets 
held where the light from a window behind would strike 
them best. His voice was even and soft, and yet such was 
its quality that persons standing in the far corners of the 
room were able to hear every word he uttered. American 
and French officers stood just behind him at attention. 

When the Marshal had concluded and the correspondents 
had applauded vigorously, a military aid read an English 
version of the speech. As the last word was heard, and the 
correspondents realized the importance of the Marshal's 
statement, there was a burst of applause so loud that it 
reached the ears of a crowd of men and women who were 
waiting outside the grounds to catch a glimpse of the French 
hero who was soon to start for Mount Vernon. A transla- 
tion of Marshal Joffre's remarks, as supplied, follows : 

The very cordial welcome given me by the City 
of Washington, and the expressions of sympathy 
which reached me from states and cities throughout 
the United States have moved me deeply, since they 



36 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

are an homage paid to the whole French army which I 
represent here. 

The heroism and resolution of the soldiers of France 
indeed deserve all the affection the United States has 
shown them. After having in a supreme effort de- 
feated and thrown hack the barbarous enemy, the 
French Army has untiringly labored to increase and 
perfect its efficiency. And now in the third year of 
the war it is attacking the enemy with greater vigor 
and material force than ever before. 

Side by side with it and animated by a no less he- 
roic spirit stands the British Army, whose formation 
and development will ever remain the admiration of 
the world. The Germans have realized its wonderful 
growth. Every encounter has made them feel the 
increasing menace of its strength. The contempt they 
pretended to feel for it in the early days of the war 
has gradually become a dread more openly avowed 
each day. 

Led by its illustrious President, the United States 
has entered into this war. By the side of France in 
the defense of the ideals of mankind, the place of 
America is marked. France, which has long recog- 
nized the valor of the American soldier, cherishes the 
confident hope that the flag of the United States will 
soon be unfurled on our fighting line. This is what 
Germany dreads. France and America will see with 
pride and joy the day when their sons are once more 
fighting shoulder to shoulder in the defense of liberty. 
The victories which they will certainly win will hasten 
the end of the war and will tighten the links of affec- 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 37 

tion and esteem which have ever united France and 
the United States. 

When the cheering died away, M. Hovelaque, a member 
of the Commission, invited the correspondents to ask 
questions. There was some hesitation for a moment while 
the Marshal, his countenance wreathed in smiles, leaned 
forward expectantly, rubbing a heavy fist into the palm of 
his other hand. When the questions began, M. Hovelaque, 
or one of the aids, translated them, and the Marshal replied 
in French. Only once did the Marshal say he could not 
discuss in detail the matter asked about, since that matter 
was still under consideration by members of the French 
mission and representatives of the American Government. 
One or two of the questions puzzled the Marshal for a 
moment, causing him to draw his bushy gray eyebrows 
together as if greatly perplexed. He used his hands most 
expressively at these times, occasionally shrugged his shoul- 
ders, and, once, raising himself on his toes, drove his 
clinched fist sharply into the open palm of his other hand 
to emphasize a point he was making. Many^ of the ques- 
tions were prompted by knowledge that the Marshal favored 
the sending of an American expeditionaiy force to France 
as soon as possible. The correspondents were informed 
that it was the desire of the French mission that the con- 
versation should not be published until it had been sub- 
mitted to the State Department and that the approved text 
of the questions and answers would be given out later. 
Some hours afterward a statement, covering the questions 
and answers, was issued: 

Q. — Is it advisable to withdraw Americans now on 
the field of battle and form an independent American 
corps? A.—Marshal Joffre said he did not think it 



38 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

would be wise to withdraw Americans who were al- 
ready at the front. It would be better to use them 
with any units which might be sent to France. He 
thought it of the greatest importance that the Amer- 
ican flag should be seen in France; every one would 
then feel that America was there. But this did not 
apply to certain specialists in war who might be found 
more useful in training American soldiers. In his 
opinion Americans who were already there should stay 
there. He thought now when battles were raging 
every energy should be added to the forces already on 
the French front. That was why Americans now in 
France were needed there. 

Q. — Would the Marshal prefer to have our regulars 
serving there? A. — Marshal Joffre considered this 
problem far too difficult to be solved without mature 
consideration. 

Q. — The Marshal was asked how long a period of 
training was necessary to form a new army. A. — He 
replied that no definite answer to such a question was 
possible. The War Office alone really knew exact 
conditions. The example of England would throw 
some light on the probable time it would take. Staff 
officers necessarily are slowly prepared. But subordi- 
nate officers can be trained with considerable speed 
when one has such fine material as the English make. 
An American Army would probably develop even 
faster, as it would profit by the experiences of the 
British and French. If a large army, completely 
equipped, had to be transported at one time, the trans- 
portation would be a tremendous problem. He would 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 39 

therefore consider it better to send unit by unit over 
one at a time. 

Q. — Marshal Joffre was asked if he would speak of 
such experiences as he had had with Americans at the 
front. A. — He said it would be invidious to single out 
any particular instances of valor where valor was so 
general. He had congratulated all Americans in 
France, and notably the whole corps of aviators who 
had been most successful. One fact that might inter- 
est Americans was that President Wilson's message 
had caused a thrill to all soldiers who read it. The 
German Government did not give to its people the full 
and correct text of the message. It was translated 
into German, however, and Allied aviators threw it 
into the German lines and thereby gave German sol- 
diers an opportunity of reading the full text of the 
speech. This was of importance, as German officials 
took particular pains to keep all important war news 
from soldiers in the trenches. 

Q. — Marshal Joffre was asked if the troops which 
were to be sent over would be trained by French sol- 
diers. A. — In reply he said that there was no reason 
to doubt the capacity of the officers of the American 
Army to train fully their own men, in spite of their 
distance from the field of action. It did not take so 
very long a time to train subordinate officers to lead 
men into battle. For example, the British had a very 
considerable number of divisions on the front, with 
fine officers, who before the war were lawyers, mer- 
chants, etc. The same men in America would cer- 
tainly show themselves as capable. 



40 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Q. — The Marshal was asked if the troops we were 
to send would serve as an American unit. A. — He 
replied that this could not be answered, because it was 
a matter to be dealt with by the Secretary of War. 

Q. — ^When asked to tell of the devotion of French 
women in order to give an idea of what American 
women might be expected to do, the Marshal said the 
influence of women could be enormous in giving moral 
support and in writing to the soldiers cheerfully and 
encouraging them to bear with all the hardships and 
perils of war. They could help them materially in 
all sorts of ways. "When the first winter came upon 
the French Army it had been impossible to make suf- 
ficient provision for the men. The Marshal appealed 
to the women to help their husbands, brothers and 
sons. All through France women set to knitting 
sweaters and socks. And not only the French, but 
American women helped, too, in the same way. Their 
help was deeply appreciated, and the Marshal wished 
the newspapermen to say how warm this appreciation 
was. He also wished to thank American women for 
their great interest in the ambulance work. They 
had never slacked in their efforts. 

There soon began in Washington a series of interchanges 
of information and helpful discussion which, in importance 
and value, probably constituted the most memorable inter- 
national conference ever held in America. Mr. Balfour, 
M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre became the central figures 
of a large group of experts in war and government, British, 
French and American. What they said publicly put stress 
on their desire to help America to avoid pitfalls and errors 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 41 

which their own countries had experienced; to show us 
how to work wisely and effectively for the common end; 
and expressed apioreciation of American support and world 
patriotism, or, as Mr. Balfour phrased it, "a common ef- 
fort for a great ideal." Mr. Balfour, having heard that 
some critics believed that the object of this mission was to 
"inveigle the United States out of its traditional policy 
and to entangle it in formal alliances, either secret or pub- 
lic, with European Powers," took occasion to say in public 
that he could imagine no rumor "having less foundation" 
or any policy "more utterly unnecessary or futile." Confi- 
dence in the assistance the Allies were going to get from 
America was not based on such shallow considerations as 
those which arise out of formal treaties. No treaty could 
increase the Entente's undoubted confidence in the people 
of the United States, who, having come into the war, were 
going to see it through. If anything was certain in this 
war, that was certain. 

THE BRITISH AND FRENCH IN MT. VERNON 

On April 29 the British and French commissions visited 
Mount Vernon, where the fiags of Great Britain, France 
and the United States floated over the tomb of Washing- 
ton. Nature was in her most bounteous garb. The ever- 
greens before the tomb stood out boldly in the new life just 
blossoming. About five hundred persons stood with bared 
heads in a semi-circle before the tomb when, without for- 
mality, Secretary Daniels motioned to M. Viviani, who 
advanced slowly into the center and delivered an address. 
Spectators, though most of them could not understand 
French, caught the suppressed fire of the orator, and fol- 
lowed his words spellbound. Apart from M. Viviani's 
voice not a sound could be heard. He said: 



42 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

We could not remain longer in Washington with- 
out accomplishing this pious pilgrimage. In this spot 
lies all that is mortal of a great hero. Close by this 
spot is the modest abode where Washington rested 
after the tremendous labor of achieving for a nation 
its emancipation. 

In this spot meet the admiration of the whole world 
and the veneration of the American people. In this 
spot rise before us the glorious memories left by the 
soldiers of France led by Rochambeau and Lafayette, 
a descendant of the latter, my friend, M. de Cham- 
brun, accompanies us. 

And I esteem it a supreme honor as well as a sat- 
isfaction for my conscience to be entitled to render 
this homage to our ancestors in the presence of my 
colleague and friend, Mr. Balfour, who so nobly rep- 
resents his great nation. By thus coming to lay here 
the respectful tribute of every English mind he shows, 
in this historic moment of communion which France 
has willed, what nations that live for liberty can do. 

When we contemplate in the distant past the lu- 
minous presence of Washington, in nearer times the 
majestic figure of Abraham Lincoln, when we respect- 
fully salute President Wilson, the worthy heir of 
these great memories, we at one glance measure the 
vast career of the American people. 

It is because the American people proclaimed and 
won for the nation the right to govern itself, it is be- 
cause it proclaimed and won the equality of all men, 
that the free American people at the hour marked by 
fate has been enabled with commanding force to carry 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 43 

its action beyond the seas ; it is because it was resolved 
to extend its action still further that Congress was 
enabled to obtain within the space of a few days the 
vote of conscription and to proclaim the necessity for 
a national army in the full splendor of civil peace. 
In the name of France I salute the young army which 
will share in our common glory. 

While paying this supreme tribute to the memory 
of Washington I do not diminish the effect of my 
words when I turn my thoughts to the memory of so 
many unnamed heroes. I ask you before this tomb to 
bow in earnest meditation and all the fervor of piety 
before all the soldiers of the allied nations, who for 
nearly three years have been fighting under different 
flags for the same ideal. 

I beg you to address the homage of your hearts and 
souls to all the heroes — born to live in happiness, in 
the tranquil pursuit of their labors, in the enjoyment 
of all human affections — who went into battle with 
virile cheerfulness and gave themselves up, not to 
death alone, but to the eternal silence that closes over 
those whose sacrifice remains unnamed, in the full 
knowledge that save for those who loved them their 
names would disappear with their bodies. Their mon- 
ument is in our hearts. Not the living alone greet us 
here ; the ranks of the dead themselves rise to surround 
the soldiers of liberty. 

At this solemn hour in the history of the world, 
while saluting from this sacred mound the final vic- 
tory of justice, I send to the Republic of the United 
States the greetings of the French Republic. 



44 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Then stepped forward Mr. Balfour, who for a moment 
stood in silence, a tall, erect, kindly figure. Abandoning 
his pre\dous decision not to speak, he gave expression to a 
few poignant sentences that evidently came straight from 
the heart: 

M. Viviani has expressed in most eloquent words 
the feelings which grip us all here to-day. He has 
not only paid a fitting tribute to a great statesman, but 
he has brought our thoughts most vividly down to 
the present. The thousands who have given their lives 
— French, Russian, Italian, Belgian, Serbian, Monte- 
negrin, Roumanian, Japanese, and British — were 
fighting for what they believed to be the cause of lib- 
erty. There is no place in the world where a speech 
for the cause of liberty would be better placed than 
here at the tomb of Washington. But as that work 
has been so adequately done by a master of oratory, 
perhaps you will permit me to read a few words pre- 
pared by the British mission for the wreath we are to 
leave here to-day: ^ 

''Dedicated by the British mission to the immortal 
memory of George Washington, soldier, statesman, pa- 
triot, who would have rejoiced to see the country of 
which he was by birth a citizen and the country which 
his genius called into existence, fighting side by side 
to save mankind from subjection to a military des- 
potism. ' * 

Governor Stuart, of Virginia, then spoke for Virginia. 
"Washington,** he said, "originally belonged to Virginia, 
but his priceless memory has now become a common heri- 
tage of the world. We consecrate here to-day a struggle 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 45 

bearing the supreme test of the issues for which he lived, 
fought and died." Marshal Joffre then came forward and 
spoke in French two brief sentences : 

In the French Army all venerate the name and 
memory of Washington. I respectfully salute here 
the great soldier and lay upon his tomb the palm we 
offer to our soldiers who have died for their country. 

Two French officers advanced with a bronze wreath for 
the tomb, the highest mark of honor which the French 
accord dead soldiers. Bending over, the Marshal passed 
through the low narrow entrance, solemnly placed the 
wreath upon the stone coffin and stood there silently at 
salute. Here was the general who had saved France doing 
homage to the general who had won hberty for the United 
States. 

As Marshal Joffre passed back among the spectators, 
Mr. Balfour stepped forward with a wreath of lilies and 
oak leaves, tied with the colors of the three allied nations. 
He, too, entered the tomb, and placed the British token 
beside the French, while Lieut. Gen. Bridges stood outside 
at salute. There was neither music nor applause. Except 
for the brief words of the speakers, the silence and peace 
of the place were not broken. The little gathering looked 
on with emotions too varied and profound for expression. 

The visiting statesmen afterwards passed in and out of 
several rooms at the old mansion, examining heirlooms and 
looking curiously at the key of the Bastile, which Lafayette 
had presented to Washington. Mr. Balfour was the last 
to leave. 

Seldom, it seemed to the small group of men and women 
who gathered at Mount Yemon, had there been a more im- 
pressive scene on American soil, the more notable because 
of its simplicity. In the assemblage were members of 



46 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the French and British missions, the French and British 
Ambassadors, American Cabinet officers, and high officers 
of the United States army and navy. The party had gone 
down the Potomac as the guests of Secretary Daniels, on 
the Mayflower. It was the second time that the memory of 
Washington had thus been honored by a Briton. The first 
was in 1860, when King Edward, then Prince of Wales, 
visited Mount Vernon. But it was the first time that a 
British flag had been raised over Washington's tomb. M. 
Viviani's eloquent speech made a deep impression, not only 
on the company gathered at the tomb, but on the whole 
country, as widely printed in the newspapers.* 

M. VIVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFFRE IN THE SENATE 

On May 1 the ceiling of the Senate chamber at the Cap- 
itol reechoed to shouts of welcome for M. Viviani and 
Marshal Joffre, who went there by prearrangement. Rules 
forbade applause; technically, they forbade Joffre's admis- 
sion to the floor, but no one thought of challenging either 
him or any of the visitors, including several foreign jour- 
nalists, who entered the chamber with the guests. The ad- 
mission of Marshal Joffre, alone, had been sanctioned in 
advance by unanimous consent, but this consent seemed to 
carry with it everything that would make the welcome in- 
formal nnd complete.* M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre 
reached Vice-President Marshal's room shortly before 12 :30 
o'clock. The Vice-President named Mr. Hitchcock of 
Nebraska, and Mr. Lodge, of Massachusetts, to usher the 
guests into the chamber. M. Viviani entered with Mr. 
Hitchcock, Marshal Joffre with Mr. Lodge, M. Jusserand, 
the French Ambassador, with Admiral Chocheprat. M. 
Viviani's speech, loudly called for, was as follows; 

iThe Washington Post. 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 47 

Mr. President and Senators: Since I have been 
granted the supreme honor of speaking before the 
representatives of the American people, may I ask 
them first to allow me to thank this magnificent capi- 
tal for the welcome it has accorded us ? Accustomed 
as we are in our own free land to popular manifesta- 
tions, and though we had been warned by your fel- 
low countrymen who live in Paris of the enthusiasm 
burning in your hearts, we are still full of the emo- 
tion raised by the sights that awaited us. I shall 
never cease to see the proud and stalwart men who 
saluted our passage; your women, whose grace adds 
fresh beauty to your city, their arms outstretched, full 
of flowers ; and your children hurrying to meet us as 
if our coming were looked upon as a lesson for them, 
all with one accord acclaiming in our perishable per- 
sons immortal France. And I predict there will be 
a yet grander manifestation on the day when your 
illustrious President, relieved from the burden of 
power, will come among us bearing the salute of the 
Republic of the United States to a free Europe, whose 
foundations from end to end shall be based on right. 

It is with unspeakable emotion that we crossed the 
threshold of this legislative palace, where prudence 
and boldness meet, and that I for the first time in 
the annals of America, though a foreigner, speak 
in this Hall which only a few days since resounded 
with the words of virile force. You have set all the 
democracies of the world the most magnificent ex- 
ample. So soon as the common peril was made mani- 
fest to you, with simplicity and within a few short 



4S BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

days, you voted a formidable war credit and pro- 
claimed that a formidable army was to be raised. 
President "Wilson 's commentary on his acts, which you 
made yours, remains in the history of free peoples 
the weightiest of lessons. Doubtless you were re- 
solved to avenge the insults offered your flag, which 
the whole world respected; doubtless through the 
thickness of these massive walls the mournful cry of 
all the victims that criminal hands hurled into the 
depths of the sea has reached and stirred your souls, 
but it will be your honor in history that you also 
heard the cry of humanity and invoked against au- 
tocracy the rights of democracies. And I can only 
wonder as I speak what, if they still have any power 
to think, are the thoughts of the autocrats who three 
years ago against us, three months ago against you, 
unchained this conflict. 

Ah ! doubtless they said among themselves that a 
democracy is an ideal government, that it showers 
reforms on mankind, that it can in the domain of 
labor quicken all economic activities. And yet now 
we see the French Republic fighting in defense of 
its territory and the liberty of nations and opposing 
to the avalanche let loose by Prussian militarism the 
union of all its children who are still capable of strik- 
ing many a weighty blow. And now we see Eng- 
land, far removed like you from conscription, who 
has also, by virtue of a discipline all accept, raised 
from her soil millions of fighting men. And we see 
other nations accomplishing the same act; and that 
liberty not only inflames all hearts but coordinates 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 49 

and brings into being all needed efforts. And now 
we see all America rise and sharpen her weapons in 
the midst of peace for the common struggle. Together 
we will carry on that struggle, and when by force 
we have at last imposed military victory our labors 
will not be concluded. Our task will be, I quote the 
noble words of President Wilson, to organize the so- 
ciety of nations. I well know that our enemies, who 
have never seen before them anything but horizons 
of carnage, will never cease to jeer at so noble a de- 
sign. Such has always been the fate of great ideas 
at their birth ; and if thinkers and men of action had 
allowed themselves to be discouraged by skeptics man- 
kind would still be in its infancy, and we should still 
be slaves. After material victory we will win this 
moral victory. We will shatter the ponderous sword 
of militarism ; we will establish guaranties for peace ; 
and then we can disappear from the world's stage, 
since we shall leave at the cost of our common immola- 
tion the noblest heritage future generations can pos- 
sess. 

Shouts of " Joffre ! Joffre ! Joffre !" which Senators start- 
ed, and which were taken up by the topmost tiers of the 
gallery, induced the hero of the Mame to turn as he was 
leaving the chamber and make the shortest speech ever 
beard in that home of unlimited debate. "I do not speak 
English," he said, with a benignant smile, and then raising 
his great right hand, called out "Vivent les Etats-Unis !" 
After a military salute he was gone. The shout that rose 
and fell and rose again as he went away became the climax 
of the visit. Senators La Toilette and Stone led in these 



50 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

cheers. The Senate forgot its august rules and yelled like 
college boys at a football game. Marshal Joffre had fairly 
shot himself down from the rostrum like an abashed boy 
who had just spoken his piece on the last day of school. 
Half a dozen strides took him to the door. He went di- 
rectly from the Senate Chamber to the office of Vice-Presi- 
dent Marshal and there spent a few minutes chatting with 
Senators in French. Dozens of men and women, unable 
to crowd into the galleries and waiting in the corridors, 
pressed forward to shake his hand. Over the hand of a 
little old woman with gray hair, who came forward, he 
bowed low. To an aged doorkeeper he raised his hand in 
a military salute. 

M. VIVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFFRE IN THE HOUSE 

On May 2, while standing on the Speaker's rostrum in 
the House, behind which hang large portraits of Washing- 
ton and Lafayette, M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre received 
another remarkable ovation. The entire membershijo of the 
House and the crowded galleries alike rose and applauded 
them. When M. Viviani spoke the House displayed high 
enthusiasm. When Marshal Joffre, apparently averse to 
talking in French, rose and saluted the House, members 
gave him an ovation probably never excelled in the history 
of the lower House of Congress. Ambassador Jusserand 
was likewise enthusiastically received. M. Viviani's speech 
was translated for the press by Representative McCor- 
mick, who stood by the official reporters' tables for the 
purpose, as follows: 

Gentlemen : Once more my fellow-countrymen and 
I are admitted to the honor of being present at a sit- 
ting in a legislative chamber. May I be permitted 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 51 

to express our emotion at this solemn derogation 
against rules more than a century old, and so far as 
I am concerned, may I say as a member of Parliament 
accustomed for twenty years to the passions and 
storms which sweep through political assemblies that I 
appreciate more than any one at this moment the su- 
preme joy of being near this chair, which is in such 
a commanding position that however feeble may be the 
voice that speaks thence, it is heard over the whole 
world. 

Gentlemen, I will not thank you, not because our 
gratitude fails, but because words to express it fail. 
We feel that your sympathy and enthusiasm come not 
only from your hearts, but from the jealousy which 
you have for your own honor. We have all felt that 
you were not merely fulfilling the obligation of in- 
ternational courtesy. Suddenly, in all its charming 
intimacy, the complexity of the American soul has 
been revealed to us. When one meets an American, 
one is supposed to meet a practical man, merely a 
practical man, caring only for business, only inter- 
ested in business. But when at certain hours in pri- 
vate life one studies the American soul, one discovers 
at the same time how fresh and delicate it is, and 
when at certain moments of public life one considers 
the soul of the nation, then one sees all the force of 
the ideals that rise from it is so that this American 
people, in its perfect balance, is at once practical 
and sentimental, a realizer and a dreamer, and is al- 
ways ready to place its practical qualities at the dis- 
posal of its puissant thoughts. 



52 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Intrusted with a mandate from a free people, we 
come among freemen to compare our ideas, exchange 
our views, to measure the whole extent of the 
problems raised by this war and all the allied na- 
tions, simply because they repose on Democratic in- 
stitutions, through their Governments, meet in the 
same lofty region on equal terms, in full liberty. 

I well know that at this very hour in the Central 
Empires there is an absolute monarchy which binds 
other peoples to its will by vassal links of steel. It 
has been said that this was a sign of strength; it is 
only an appearance of strength. In truth, only a 
few weeks ago, on the eve of the day when outraged 
America was about to rise in its force, on the morrow 
of the day when the Russian revolution, faithful to its 
alliance, called at once its soldiers to arms and its 
people to independence, this absolute monarch was 
seen to totter on the steps of his throne as he felt the 
first breath of the tempest pass over his crown. He 
bent toward his people in humiliation, and, in order 
to win their sympathy, borrowed from free peoples 
their highest institutions and promised his subjects 
universal suffrage. 

Here, in the crucial hours of our history as in 
those of yours, it is liberty which clears the way for 
our soldiers. We are all now united in our common 
effort for civilization, for right. 

The day before yesterday in a public meeting at 
which I was present I heard one of your greatest ora- 
tors say with deep emotion: **It has been sworn 
on the tomb of Washington. ' * And then I understood 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 53 

the full import of those words. If "Washington could 
rise from his tomb, if from his sacred mound he could 
view the world as it now is — shrunk to smaller pro- 
portions by the lessening of material and moral dis- 
tances and the mingling of every kind of communica- 
tion between men — ^he would feel his labors were not 
yet concluded; and that, just as a man of superior 
and powerful mind owes a debt to all other men, so 
a superior and powerful nation owes a debt to other 
nations, and after establishing its own independence 
must aid others to maintain their independence or 
to conquer it. It is the mysterious logic of history 
which President Wilson so marvelously understood, 
thanks to a mind as vigorous as it is subtle, as capable 
of analysis as it is of synthesis, of minute observation 
followed by swift action. 

It has been sworn on the tomb of Washington. It 
has been sworn on the tomb of our allied soldiers, 
fallen in a sacred cause. It has been sworn by the 
bedside of our wounded men. It has been sworn on 
the heads of our orphan children. It has been sworn 
on cradles and on tombs. It has been sworn! 

MR. BALFOUR IN THE HOUSE 

On May 4, to the surprise of the House, President Wil- 
son appeared in the gallery to join in a demonstration 
accorded to Mr. Balfour. Precedents of a century and a 
half were broken. It was the first time in American his- 
tory when a British official had been invited to address the 
House, and the first time that a President of the United 
States had sat in the gallery. The welcome to Mr. Balfour 



54 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

and his associates equaled, if it did not surpass, the dem- 
onstration which had greeted M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre 
a few days earlier. With Mr. Balfour were General Bridges, 
Major Spender-Clay, Admiral de Chair, Fleet Paymaster- 
General Lawford, Lord Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of 
England, and Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the British Ambassa- 
dor. Unannounced, the President had slipped into the ex- 
ecutive gallery. Ambassador Jusserand, who was sitting in 
the diplomatic gallery, apparently was the only man who 
had noticed him, and rose to his feet in recognition of his 
presence. For several minutes no one else on the floor saw 
Mr. Wilson, although he was sitting in the front row, with 
Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. McAdoo. Then suddenly a member 
on the floor discovered him, and a group of members rose 
and applauded. The whole House followed, and for sev- 
eral minutes the floor and galleries joined in hearty cheers. 
The President rose and acknowledged the greeting three 
times before the demonstration subsided. 

It was a few minutes after 12 :30 o'clock when the British 
commission appeared. The whole House rose to greet them. 
Applause swept the floor and galleries for several minutes, 
subsiding only to start with a new outburst when the 
Speaker introduced Mr. Balfour. Two or three times Mr. 
Balfour hesitated for a word, which seemed to emphasize 
the sincerity of his address and the cordiality and sympa- 
thy with which his audience listened. Through all the 
cheering the President joined vigorously. When Mr. Bal- 
four had finished and was standing below the rostrum with 
General Bridges, Admiral de Chair, and the British Am- 
bassador, and shaking hands with members as they filed 
past, Mr. Wilson again surprised every one by slipping 
downstairs quietly and taking his place in the line with 
the Congressmen, to greet Mr. Balfour. The galleries were 
packed, and a large crowd was waiting outside. Chief 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 55 

Justice White, Secretary McAdoo, Attorney General Greg- 
ory, and Justices McReynolds and Pitney of the Supreme 
Court were on the floor. In the diplomatic gallery, be- 
sides Ambassador Jusserand, were Lady Spring-Rice, Col- 
ville Barclay, Counselor of the British Embassy, the Hai- 
tian Minister, and Frank Polk, Counselor of the State 
Department. Following is Mr. Balfour's speech: 

Mr. Speaker, ladies, and gentlemen of the House 
of Representatives, will you permit me, on behalf of 
my friends and myself, to offer you my deepest and 
sineerest thanks for the rare and valued honor which 
you have done us by receiving us here to-day? We 
all feel the greatness of this honor, but I think to none 
of us can it come home so closely as to one who, like 
myself, has been for 43 years in the service of a 
free assembly like your own. I rejoice to think that 
a member — a very old member, I am sorry to say — 
of the British House of Commons has been received 
here to-day by this great sister assembly with such 
kindness as you have shown to me and to my friends. 

Ladies and gentlemen, these two assemblies are the 
greatest and the oldest of the free assemblies now 
governing great nations in the world. The history 
indeed of the two is very different. The beginnings 
of the British House of Commons go back to a dim 
historic past, and its full rights and status have 
only been conquered and permanently secured after 
centuries of political struggle. Your fate has been 
a happier one. You were called into existence at a 
much later stage of social development. You came 
into being complete and perfected and all your powers 



66 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

determined, and your place in the Constitution se- 
cured beyond chance of revolution; but, though the 
history of these two great assemblies is different, each 
of them represents the great democratic principle to 
which we look forward as the security for the future 
peace of the world. All of the free assemblies now 
to be found governing the great nations of the earth 
have been modeled either upon your practise or upon 
ours, or upon both combined. 

Mr. Speaker, the compliment paid to the mission 
from Great Britain by such an assembly and upon 
such an occasion is one not one of us is ever likely 
to forget, but there is something, after all, even deeper 
and more significant in the circumstances under which 
I now have the honor to address you, than any which 
arise out of the interchange of courtesies, however sin- 
cere, between two great and friendly nations. We all, 
I think, feel instinctively that this is one of the great 
moments in the history of the world and that what is 
now happening on both sides of the Atlantic repre- 
sents the drawing together of great and free peoples 
for mutual protection against the aggression of mili- 
tary despotism. 

I am not one of those and none of you are among 
those who are such bad democrats as to say that 
democracies make no mistakes. All free assemblies 
have made blunders; sometimes they have committed 
crimes. Why is it, then, that we look forward to the 
spread of free institutions throughout the world, and 
especially among our present enemies, as one of the 
greatest guaranties of the future peace of the world ? 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 57 

I will tell you, gentlemen, how it seems to me. It 
is quite true that the people and the representatives of 
the people may be betrayed by some momentary gust 
of passion into a policy which they ultimately de- 
plore, but it is only a military despotism of the Ger- 
man type which can, through generations if need be, 
pursue steadily, remorselessly, unscrupulously, the ap- 
palling object of dominating the civilization of man- 
kind. And mark you, this evil, this menace under 
which we are now suffering, is not one which dimin- 
ishes with the growth of the knowledge and the prog- 
ress of material civilization, but on the contrary it in- 
creases with them. When I was young we used to 
flatter ourselves that progress inevitably meant peace, 
and that growth of knowledge was always accom- 
panied, as its natural fruit, by the growth of good 
will among the nations of the earth. Unhappily we 
know better now, and we know there is such a thing 
in the world as a power which can with unvarying 
persistency focus all the resources of knowledge and 
of civilization into the one great task of making itself 
the moral and material master of the world. It is 
against that danger that we, the free peoples of west- 
ern civilization, have banded ourselves together. It 
is in that great cause that we are going to fight and 
are now fighting this very moment side by side. In 
that cause we shall surely conquer, and our children 
will look back to this fateful date as the one day from 
which democracies can feel secure that their progress, 
their civilization, their rivalry, if need be, will be con- 
ducted, not on German lines, but in that friendly and 



5S BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFIliS 

Christian spirit which really befits the age in which 
we live. 

Mr. Speaker, ladies, and gentlemen, I beg most sin- 
cerely to repeat again how heartily I thank you for 
the cordial welcome which you have given us to- 
day, and to repeat my profound sense of the sig- 
nificance of this unique meeting. 

ME. BALFOUR IN THE SENATE 

On May 8 Mr. Balfour, and his colleagues of the Brit- 
ish mission, paid a visit to the Senate. They were received 
with an enthusiasm which, with the welcome accorded by 
the same body to the French mission, stood out in high re- 
lief above the ordinarily staid proceedings of the Senate. 
Mr. Balfour's speech lasted almost twenty-five minutes and 
promised to be remembered as one of the great official ut- 
terances of the war. His simple statement of unshaken con- 
fidence in what the end would be heartened the Senators and 
a thousand other auditors, who stopped their breathless lis- 
tening only to applaud. Through everything he said ran 
a note of new confidence that victory for the Allies would 
come because of the whole-hearted assistance the United 
States would give. Even the most casual reference to this 
cooperation of the United States brought thundering cheers. 
Following is the speech: 

Mr. President and gentlemen of the Senate: You, 
Mr. President, have in graceful and pregnant sen- 
tences brought to our recollection the common origin 
of those liberties which, whether in France, in Britain, 
or in the United States of America, we all rejoice in 
and are all determined to defend. You have also in 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 59 

warm words of welcome spoken kindly of the mis- 
sion of which I have the honor to be the head and to 
which you are now paying the rare, the very rare, 
honor of welcoming within your walls. Gentlemen, 
on their behalf not less than on my own I most sin- 
cerely thank you for your welcome. I know well 
that it is not a welcome to individuals. The kindness 
which each one of us as individuals has received since 
we came to this great city will never be forgotten by 
any one of us. It has been kindness, abundant, over- 
flowing, generous, unlimited; but, gentlemen, behind 
that kindness paid by individuals to individuals, be- 
hind the expression of a hospitable and generous feel- 
ing to guests within your gates, there is, after all, 
something much deeper, something much more im- 
portant, something which is, after all, the animating 
spirit which brings this great assembly here to-day. 
The original object of our mission, if I may so ex- 
press it, was mainly a purely business one. We came 
here to discuss matters of the deepest moment for 
the conduct of that great war in which both our na- 
tions are involved. We came here to explain to your 
leaders and statesmen what were the needs from which 
the Allies mainly suffered, and to lay freely at the 
disposal of those responsible for the conduct of your 
affairs the results of our own experience, the conse- 
quences, perhaps I ought to say, in some cases of our 
own errors and blunders during two years and a half 
of strenuous and sanguinary fighting. That was the 
original object; that was the business side of our mis- 
sion. But the reception which you have given us 



60 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

here, the treatment which we have received from the 
President, from the Cabinet, from the House of Rep- 
resentatives, from the Senate — that treatment raises 
the whole level of our mission from a purely business 
operation to a great incident in the common life of 
two great and free peoples. 

Gentlemen, I do not think the importance of that 
is easy to overrate. I believe that the consequences 
will not be measured by any mere record of the trans- 
actions that may take place between our various Gov- 
ernments, nor will the effects of it vanish when we 
ourselves, in consequence of the calls of duty else- 
where, leave your hospitable city. No, gentlemen, this 
mission and the French mission, which is associated 
with it, mark a new epoch in the relations of our three 
countries, and I believe that in the alliance thus ce- 
mented lie secure some of the greatest hopes, some 
of the proudest expectations, which we dare to enter- 
tain about the future of civilization. 

Gentlemen, it is not, however, your kindness of 
heart alone which has given this significance to con- 
temporary events. That significance is forced upon 
our notice whether we be citizens of America or citi- 
zens of France or citizens of Britain; but I speak 
especially at this moment of citizens of America and 
citizens of Britain. It is forced upon our notice by 
the unwearied efforts of an unconscionable German 
propaganda. "Whether we live on the other side of 
the Atlantic or on this side of the Atlantic, we Eng- 
lish-speaking peoples have never organized ourselves 
for military purposes; we have never been military 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 61 

States ; and, when the war broke out, undoubtedly the 
Germans looked around the world, estimated the value 
(from their point of view) of the nations with whom 
they might be concerned, and, profoundly contemptu- 
ous of our views of civilization, whether they were 
British or American views, they decided that neither 
Britain nor America counted in the struggle by which 
they hoped to obtain the domination of the world. 
They found us unprepared; they found us unmili- 
tary,- and because we were unprepared and because 
we were unmilitary, they jumped rashly to the con- 
clusion, first, that we were afraid to fight, and, sec- 
ond, that if we fought we would be wholly negligible 
quantities. I think they are beginning, possibly, to 
find out their mistake. 

How, gentlemen, did that mistake ever arise? It 
arose from the utter incapacity of the German ruling 
class— and it is only of the German ruling class that I 
speak to-day — to estimate value except in terms of 
drilled men and military preparation. They saw that 
England and America were prosperous, were unwar- 
like, were immersed in the arts of peace and involved 
in the industrial interests incident to a peaceful civi- 
lization, and they drew from that two conclusions: 
They drew from it, in the first place, the conclusion 
that because we were commercial we were therefore 
material; that we were incapable of high ideals or 
great sacrifices ; and the further conclusion that even 
if we determined late in the day to pursue those high 
ideas and to make those great sacrifices we should 
be so utterly incompetent in the arts to which they 



62 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

had devoted so much of their attention that our in- 
terference in the war would be a thing which they 
could leave wholly on one side. On that miscalcula- 
tion have been wrecked, and will be wrecked, all their 
hopes. It was their fatal blunder, a blunder from 
which they will never recover, but a blunder which 
has saved civilization. 

Gentlemen, I speak with confidence about the issue 
of this great struggle, a confidence which is redoubled 
since you have thrown in your lot with those who 
have been fighting since 1914. I see, indeed, sugges- 
tions that Germany, incapable of winning by arms, is 
going to win through the illegitimate weapon of sub- 
marine warfare. I believe it not. I do not at all 
minimize, I do not wish to minimize, the gravity of 
the submarine menace. After all, in the two years 
and a half during which the war has been going on, 
more than one difficulty of like magnitude has met us 
and more than one difficulty of like magnitude has 
been overcome. 

The question of munitions is a case in point. I 
do not wish to detain you on such an occasion with 
details, but at the beginning of the war it became 
evident that Germany had recognized the importance 
of the munitions question, had been preparing for 
this war through years of peace by having at her 
disposal a supply of ammunition greater than all the 
rest of the world put together, and at one time it 
almost looked as if the cause of civilization and liberty 
were to be crushed under the multitude of shells and 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 63 

the weight of artillery. We have surmounted that 
difficulty. It was a very great one. 

I do not deny that the submarine difficulty is a 
very great one. I do not deny that it will require 
every effort made, either in Britain or here, success- 
fully to overcome it; but that those efforts will be 
made, that this menace will be overcome, that the 
United States of America, like Great Britain and her 
dominions, will throw themselves into the task with 
ungrudging efforts, and that those efforts will be 
crowned with success, I do not doubt for a moment. 
This war is not going to be settled by the sinking of 
helpless neutrals or by sending women and children 
to the bottom by torpedoes or gunfire. It is to be 
settled by hard fighting; and when it comes to hard 
fighting, neither America nor Britain nor France need 
fear measuring themselves at any moment against 
those who have risen up against all that we hold 
dear for the future. 

I therefore, gentlemen, look forward — not, of 
course, in a spirit of light and easy and unthinking 
confidence, but with firm faith — to the future of this 
war. It requires every man and woman on this side 
of the Atlantic, as on the other side of the Atlantic, 
to throw their united efforts into the scale of right. 
That effort unquestionably will be made, is being 
made, will be made yet further, and, being made, I 
doubt not that it will be crowned with success and that 
posterity will look back upon the union of these peo- 
ples, symbolized by such meetings as that which I 
am now addressing, as marking a new epoch in the 



64 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

history of the world ; an epoch in which all the civil- 
ized nations roused themselves in unity to deal with 
one of their numher which has forgotten its responsi- 
bilities, forgotten its duties, and which, in unscrup- 
ulous lust for universal domination, has brought the 
greatest of known calamities upon the world. 

Gentlemen, I have detained you too long, but I was 
led away by my subject. On my own behalf and on 
behalf of my friends around me, I beg to thank you 
for the unique honor which you have paid to us, 
and, through us, to our country, to our cause, which 
is your cause, and to the future of civilization, which 
is yours as much as ours. I thank you. 

MR. BALFOUR IN RICHMOND 

On May 19 Mr. Balfour, who had then returned to Wash- 
ington after his New York visit, went with others of the 
British mission to Richmond, and received a most hospita- 
ble welcome. The old Confederate capital made memorable 
this brief call of courtesy on the South. As the special 
train entered the station, a salute of nineteen guns was fired, 
and a band played "God Save the King," the party being 
welcomed by Governor Stuart and Mayor Ainslee, while 
several companies of the Virginia Military Institute cadet 
corps stood at salute. Automobiles first took the party 
through crowded, cheering, flag-decked lines of people, and 
then to the Governor's mansion for luncheon. The house 
was decorated with the Stars and Stripes, the Union Jack, 
and the Tricolor. A brilliant assemblage of Virginians 
greeted Mr. Balfour. Governor Stuart, in his toast to the 
King, holding a glass of water, said : 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 65 

In this glass I hold that which by the sovereign will 
of the people of Virginia is to-day the wine of the 
country, clear as the principles of liberty and justice 
in which we make common cause, pure as the union 
of heart and purpose typified by the three flags en- 
twined before us, strong in that it supplies in this 
hour the most vital needs of both statesman and sol- 
dier, distilled in the hills overlooking the noble James, 
on whose banks the first permanent English settle- 
ment in the Western world was established; spon- 
taneous as the good will towards our distinguished 
guests which springs from our hearts and our lips — 
in this and by these tokens I propose the health of 
His Majesty, King George. 

Mr. Balfour, responding for the British mission, said: 

I cannot rival the eloquence with which our host to- 
day has eulogized and described the legal wine of the 
country, but I can with enthusiasm no less sincere 
than his own, propose a toast which has always been 
dear to the heart of all Englishmen, but never so dear 
as now— the President of the United States. 

After the luncheon, Lieutenant-General Bridges placed 
wreaths for the British army at the statues of Robert E. 
Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson. The card on the first read : 

To the memory of Robert E. Lee, whose military 
genius and chivalrous personality have given him a 
high place among the great captains of the world's 
history, this tribute is paid on behalf of the British 
army. 



66 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Especially interesting were the simple ceremonies at the 
statue of "Stonewall" Jackson, in Capitol Square, a gift of 
admiration from Englishmen to the South. Taking a mag- 
nolia wreath in his hands, General Bridges walked to the 
statue, reverently laid the wreath at its base, stepped back, 
removed his hat, and silently read the inscription, which 
tells from whom the statue came, and why it was sent. 
Then stepping rapidly back, he came to a halt, assumed the 
rigid attitude of the soldier at attention, and saluted the 
figure of the chieftain. General Jackson's wreath bore 
these words: 

To the memory of T. J. Jackson, a God-fearing 
man, and a great soldier, whose example has been an 
inspiration to many a British officer, this tribute 
is dedicated on behalf of the British army. 

With a great roar of cheers and the waving of innumera- 
ble British flags, 5,000 people in the auditorium at 4:00 
in the afternoon rose unanimously to their feet when Mr. 
Balfour stepped into the hall, accompanied by Governor 
Stuart. Mayor Ainslee, in delivering a short address, wel- 
comed the British commission to Richmond. He referred 
to blood being thicker than water, whereupon Mr. Balfour 
leaned forward and earnestly pounded the table before him, 
nodding approval at the same time. What had been an 
enthusiastic crowd before, now turned almost into pande- 
monium when Mr. Balfour arose to speak. Every hand 
seemed to wave a flag and every voice to cry out, while 
tears fell unnoticed from many eyes. The band struggled 
to interpret the strong feeling of the moment by starting 
"Dixie."* When order was secured, Mr. Balfour said: 
1 The Richmond Times-Dispatch. 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 67 

There was a moment when I feared that public en- 
gagements would make it impossible to visit Rich- 
mond. Such a loss would have been a bitter disap- 
pointment to myself and to the other members of 
the British war commission. How great a loss it 
would have been, neither they nor I had any concep- 
tion of until we arrived in the city, were welcomed 
by your Governor and your Mayor, and had received 
the continuous welcome given in street after street, 
the whole culminating in this magnificent meeting. 

You, Mr. Mayor, have doubled the value of the wel- 
come by your speech, in which, with words concise 
and admirably chosen, you have shown how the great 
country we are visiting and the great country from 
which we are sent are one in fundamental character- 
istics of all great free peoples, one in history, one in 
ideals, with a unity that is never again to be disturbed 
by the chances of political life. 

The consciousness of this unity has never been ab- 
sent from our minds, I believe, but recent events have 
brought a renewed realization of its tremendous worth, 
and made us feel how small and petty were the slight 
differences which may have divided us compared with 
the vital agreements that now bind us. We have com- 
mon objects, common efforts and common determina- 
tions, and are prepared to make common sacrifices 
until our ends are obtained. 

The cooperation between the Allies who have been 
fighting for two years and a half and the great, great 
republic which has now joined itself to the cause is 
already felt in the sphere of active war. American 



68 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

warships are working side by side with British war- 
ships in the zone of danger. They have not to meet 
open foes in fair fight, they have not to carry out 
great operations as did Nelson and Farragut. There 
are different dangers now and different measures to 
be employed. I rejoice to think that ships of your 
gallant navy are patrolling like brothers with those on 
the other side of the Atlantic, defending our homes 
and your homes from the invader. 

It is not only on the sea that immediate action is 
being taken. I observe in to-day's papers the an- 
nounced determination of your government to send 
over without delay a disciplined force of the Amer- 
ican army to join with our allies, the French, and 
with our own troops in the western theater of the 
war. The moment that the first troops from the 
United States land on French or British soil will be 
memorable in the history of mankind. It is said truly 
that the force sent immediately will be small in num- 
bers compared with the colossal force required in 
modern warfare. I do not think, however, and I do 
not believe that the enemy thinks that the first incre- 
ment of the American army will be insignificant. 

You may remember that in the early days of the 
war Britain sent to France all the soldiers she had 
at her disposal, admirable in training and equipment, 
but in numbers so petty that the German Emperor 
was led to speak of ' ' the contemptible British army. ' ' 
I rather think that whatever lesson the first British 
expeditionary force has taught him, it has at least 
taught him to be more cautious in the use of epigram- 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 69 

matic attacks. He has learned that, though a free 
people may be peculiarly subject to the disease of un- 
preparedness, a democracy yields to no form of gov- 
ernment in steady determination to carry through a 
business which it has once taken in hand. 

Our contemptible little army has grown to a great 
fighting force. I entertain no doubt, nor do I think 
that our enemies do, that what we have done you 
can do. The lessons we have taught you will better 
in practise. There is no question but that out of 
your manhood, the best fighting material in the world, 
you will fill every gap caused by death in the ranks 
of the Allies. The only limit will be on the numbers 
that can be transported and equipped. There will be 
no moral difficulty. Your men, when trained, as born 
fighters, will lift high the flag of the United States 
with the flags of the Allies, sharing a common heritage 
of glory, the memory of battles waged for no unselfish 
object, for the common freedom of mankind. 

There is not a moment of life in England when the 
people are not reminded of the changed conditions 
brought on by this war. America is too far from the 
scene of immediate action for the parallel ever to 
be carried out in detail in this country. The dis- 
tance does not lessen the effort that will be required, 
however, nor does it decrease the obligations of the 
citizens of this great country. I am confident that 
you have come into the war with a clear vision of 
what it means, and that every effort you will gladly 
undertake. 

You are unprepared, but you have resources for 



70 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

modern warfare greater than any nation in the world. 
War is not merely an affair of numbers; but if it 
were, where in the world can be found a civilized, 
united community of 100,000,000 contented citizens? 
Numbers, if alone, are nothing; they are mere food 
for modern weapons of butchery. You have addi- 
tional qualities, however. There is wealth, there is 
courage, there is resolution, there are natural material 
resources, there is the inventive mind, there is the 
organizing power to turn all these great gifts to 
account and to insist that no collateral object divert 
from the supreme effort. 

Those are the qualities that make a nation great in 
war or peace. Those none can deny that the United 
States possesses in abundance. Therefore, though un- 
prepared as we were, you are prepared in spirit. The 
results can be fully assured, as encouraging to your 
friends and as startling to your enemies as was the 
creation of the great British army. 

I wonder, however, whether it is possible for you 
or any man adequately to measure all that this war 
means to the world at large. It beggars description, 
the imagination staggers under the load. The atten- 
tion of the majority of us is concentrated upon the 
western front, with a glance now and then toward 
Russia and Turkey. To take in all this war means 
requires historical knowledge and imagination not 
given to every man. 

Upon the fate of the war depends whether the 
Arabs shall be able to shake off the oppressive rule 
of the Turk. Upon it depends Asia Minor. Upon 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 71 

it depends whether the great wrong once done by three 
monarchies to Poland shall be redressed. Upon it de- 
pends whether the Balkan states, too long dominated 
by Turkish misrule, shall be allowed to develop their 
own national characteristics, ideals and traditions. I 
might continue this imaginary circumnavigation of 
the globe until I came to China, further to the re- 
publics of South America, which are now uneasily 
watching the progress of the war, calculating on the 
prospect of their own future hopelessly compromised 
unless the cause for which we are fighting is trium- 
phant in the end. 

No such war was dreamed of in the annals of his- 
tory. No such war was possible until the develop- 
ment of science, industry and transportation had ren- 
dered it possible for a knot of men in Potsdam to 
threaten the liberties of the remote corners of the 
world. They will not succeed. 

Their plans have long been laid, their preparations 
were carefully matured and cruelly applied. Noth- 
ing stood in the way. Morals, humanity, the law of 
nations, the law of love, the law of pity, all were 
set aside for success. Success will never be obtained 
along those lines. 

How soon peace will come none can prophesy. It 
may be soon, it may be far in the future. It may 
come gradually or suddenly. Sometimes I think that 
when peace comes, it will be as the summer in this 
country, succeeding in a day the cold, cheerless win- 
ter. When the time comes, all nations will have risen 
to protect ideals more valuable than wealth or life. 



72 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

I rejoice that every man of English speech, whether 
he dwell in the British Isles, in Canada, in Australia, 
in India, in Africa or in the United States, may feel 
that he has thrown in his lot for no selfish object, 
no gain of territory, no vulgar ambition, but for the 
purest, noblest purpose on earth. 

During his return to Washington Mr. Balfour stopped at 
Ashland, Virginia, to greet the students of Randolph-Macon 
College, the alma mater of Walter H. Page, the American 
ambassador to Great Britain. On the campus many stu- 
dents were presented to him. 

THE PRINCE OF UDINE IN WASHINGTON 



The scope of the work outlined for the Italian envoys, 
while in general similar to that which called to America the 
French and British missions, was to take into account some 
peculiar problems which confronted the Government at 
Rome. For one thing, Italy's transportation needs were 
regarded as much greater than those of her northern allies, 
because she was heavily dependent upon the outside world, 
particularly America, for raw materials. She needed thou- 
sands of tons of American coal to keep her factories in op- 
eration, and great quantities of iron and steel for war 
manufactures. Lumber and selected hardwoods were also 
needed from America for war construction work. In the 
matter of food, Italy was perhaps better off than the other 
Allies, but she still was in want of quantities of grain. 
Unlike the French and British, who eat only small grain 
such as wheat and rye, the Italians are fond of Indian 
corn, which is the basis of the famous national dish, "polen- 
ta." Italy's financial problems resembled those of the 
other Entente Allies. Already she had felt the great bene- 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 73 

fit of American aid in reduced exchange rates and in the 
moral encouragement given to her population. With these 
bases for discussion, the mission expected to be busied in 
Washington for at least a month. The head of the mis- 
sion, the Prince of Udine, the eldest son of the Duke of 
Genoa, and then Regent of Italy, in the absence from Rome 
of King Victor Emmanuel at the front, said in a statement 
to the press: 

Italy, which for many centuries has been divided 
and harassed by the oppression of foreign rulers and 
which has furnished a long list of illustrious defend- 
ers of human rights and of the laws which should 
regulate warfare; Italy, which in the middle of the 
last century succeeded at last in freeing herself and 
becoming a united nation, which drew its power from 
the principle of nationality and independence, has ac- 
claimed with great enthusiasm the generous interven- 
tion of the American people, who have joined the 
Allies to bring about the triumph of the principles 
upon which alone can be founded steadfastly peace 
and human progress. 

On May 24 the Italian Commission was received by 
President Wilson at the White House, that day being the 
second anniversary of Italy's entrance into the war. The 
Prince, as the official spokesman, handed to the President 
a personal letter from King Victor Emmanuel, and made, 
himself, a brief address, as follows: 

I am proud, indeed, Mr. President, belonging as 
I do to a house which has never conceived royal power 
otherwise than associated with the most complete 



74 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

liberty of the people, to have been chosen, together 
with the gentlemen of this commission, to greet you 
on behalf of my King and cousin. You will read 
the message which the King of Italy, a faithful in- 
terpeter of our country's thought, has addressed to 
you. Permit me, however, to express the great sym- 
pathy and deep admiration which I feel for this great 
and noble country. As an Italian, a sailor, and a 
Prince, I consider it a happy omen that I and my col- 
leagues, who have been chosen by the Government 
from among the worthiest, should be the symbols of 
the fulfilment of a sincere aspiration of ours. I re- 
joice that Italy is now united in a brotherhood of arms 
with the American people and that it will always in 
the future be united with them by common ideals 
for the carrying out of the work of liberty and of 
civilization. 

THE PRINCE IN MOUNT VERNON 

On May 27 the ItaUan mission made a pilgrimage to 
Mount Vernon and laid on the tomb of Washington a 
bronze wreath. It was the first time that any member of the 
Itahan royal house had ever visited Mount Vernon, indeed, 
the first time in many years that any European prince had 
visited the place. As the Mayflower approached the land- 
ing at Mount Vernon and a bugler sounded taps, the 
party stood respectfully along the rail, the prince and 
other military or naval officers saluting. The bronze wreath, 
which had been made in Italy, specially for the occasion, 
was carried into the tomb by four Italian bluejackets and 
laid near the bronze wreath which Marshal Jofire had 
placed there a few weeks before. The Prince entered the 



WASHINGTON, Mf . VERNON AND RICHMOND 75 

tomb, his head uncovered, stood at salute as the wreath 
was deposited, and then addressed the party in English, 
as follows: 

To-day at the tomb of George Washington, while 
we reaffirm our promise never to hesitate in war 
and to offer to your just cause our fortunes and our 
persons, we affirm solemnly that we look upon war 
as the necessary Via Dolorosa which leads to universal 
justice and peace. 

I desire to make myself the interpreter of those 
sentiments from which the House of Savoy has al- 
ways derived its strength and which to-day form its 
prestige. In the name of my august cousin, the King 
of Italy, and in the name of all the people of Italy, 
I wish solemnly to declare, in this place -sacred to 
the American nation, that we shall never lay down 
our arms until our liberty and the liberties of the 
peoples who are suffering with us shall be rendered 
safe against all surprises and all violence, and, at the 
same time, I affirm once more that our victory must 
be that of progress and of justice. 

Guglielmo Marconi followed the Prince, speaking also in 
English : 

The fellowship of America in the struggle is dear 
and welcome to all the Allies, but particularly to 
Italy. Italians and Americans both have had to fight 
and fight hard for their rights and their indepen- 
dence. Millions of Italians have enjoyed the hos- 
pitality of America, have contributed by their labor 



76 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

to its development, and have been able to appreciate 
its freedom. 

THE PRINCE IN THE SENATE 

On May 31 the Prince of Udine on the floor of the 
Senate, delivered, in the name of King Victor Emmanuel, 
a message to the American people, welcoming the entrance 
of the United States into the war as the final moral justi- 
fication of the cause for which the Allies were fighting. 
He was received with great enthusiasm by the Senate, to 
whom he was introduced by Vice President Marshall. He 
appeared in the full dress uniform of a naval captain and 
was accompanied by the other leading members of the 
mission. The Senators, many members of the House and 
officials, followed his slow English with deep interest. He 
said: 

Italy wants the safety of her boundaries and her 
coast, and she wants to secure herself against new 
aggressions. But Italy has not been and never will 
be an element of discord in Europe, and as she willed 
her own free national existence at the cost of any 
sacrifice, so she will contribute with all her strength 
to the free existence and development of other na- 
tions. Europe has been plunged into the war with- 
out any justifying motives, perhaps without any mo- 
tive at all beyond the will of a small oligarchy, and 
that little, guiltless nations, with masterpieces of art 
and treasuries of industry within their territories, had 
been barbarously sacrificed. 

You bring us the sacred recognition of our right ; 
you bring us moral confidence, and the conviction 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 77 

that our cause is holy and that the great free de- 
mocracy shares our feeling, our spirit and our hope. 

In this hour of danger, in which military absolutism 
is threatening every one, there are nations that have 
forgotten old and new competitions and have united 
to defeat this menace to the common safety. We are 
in a more fortunate position. Between the United 
States of America and Italy there has never been any 
cause of conflict. This new and closer union means 
for us a greater bond of sympathy and solidarity, 
added to those which already linked us. 

This long friendship without strife, this union 
without mistrust, this cloudless future, are enhanced 
by the fact that both our peoples are at war to de- 
fend the same ideas of humanity and justice. 

You bring all the enthusiasm of your national 
youth to science and to labor. Our enemies are aware 
that you will bring into the war, which is flooding 
Europe with blood and making the earth barren, the 
invaluable strength of your men and of your wealth. 
For this most noble adherence to our cause, given 
without any thought of conquest or of material wealth, 
we shall always be grateful to you. 

By proclaiming that right is more precious than 
peace; that autocratic governments, supported by 
the force of arms, are a menace to civilization; by 
affirming the necessity of guaranteeing the safety of 
the world's democracies; by proclaiming the right 
of small nations to live and to prosper, America has 
now, through the action of her President, acquired a 
title of merit which history will never forget. 



78 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

With our united efforts we shall vanquish all these 
difficulties, and that which the force of arms, secretly 
prepared and unexpectedly employed, was not able 
to accomplish, will not be accomplished by disloyal 
means on land and water. We shall triumph over all 
these difficulties if we continue our efforts in broth- 
erly agreement, united by the great duty which we 
now have voluntarily taken upon us for a cause 
which is superior to all worldly interests and which 
partakes an almost divine nobility. 

THE PRINCE AND SIGNOR MARCONI IN THE HOUSE 

On June 2 the House gave an enthusiastic reception to 
the Prince of Udine, Guglielmo Marconi, and other mem- 
bers of the Italian commission. They were escorted to the 
Speaker's rostrum amid prolonged applause, the Prince 
being seated on the right of the Speaker, who introduced 
him. The Prince said: 

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, no one 
could appreciate the honor of your invitation more 
than myself and my colleagues. 

To address the Kepresentatives of the greatest 
among new democracies at a time when the destinies 
of humanity are awaiting decision, at a time when our 
destiny and yours depend on the issue of the war, 
to bring you the greeting of distant brothers who 
are fighting for the same ideals at the foot of the 
snowy Alps or in the deadly trenches, to express to 
you our feelings and our sympathy for your feelings 
— all those are for me so many reasons for legitimate 
pride. 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 79 

During our brief stay among you we have found 
everywhere the most joyous welcome and the most 
friendly cordiality. Everywhere it was not only 
friendly words that greeted us but also friendly souls 
who welcomed us. 

We have felt deeply moved by this. 

We know, gentlemen, that such cordial sentiments, 
such hearty friendship, are meant not so much for 
our persons as for our beautiful and distant coun- 
try; our country, of which every foot is sacred to 
us because of its century-old greatness and suffer- 
ings and because of the noble share which it has al- 
ways had in human thought and history. 

But your great Republic, when it grants us such 
courteous hospitality, honors stiU more that which 
at the present moment is dearest to us — the efforts of 
Italy's soldiers, the noble sacrifice of so many young 
lives freely given for their country and for civiliza- 
tion and in defense of ideas which you have made 
your own and which we all love. 

In the name of the soldiers of Italy, one of whom 
I am proud to be; in the name of all those who are 
fighting on the mountains, on the plains, and on 
the treacherous seas; in the name of those to whom 
your words of friendship have brought a message 
of hope and faith across the ocean, I thank you from 
the bottom of my heart. 

The aims of the war for the allied nations were 
pointed out by President Wilson in his magnificent 
message, which will not only remain in the minds of 
our descendants as a historic event, but which has al- 



80 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

ready aroused, because of its moral force, intense ad- 
miration among all civilized peoples. We shall be 
satisfied, whatever sacrifices we may be called upon 
to make, when the rights of humanity are assured, 
when the guaranties of peace are effectual, and when 
free nations are able to work for their own prosperity 
and elevation. 

President Wilson has proclaimed that to the Amer- 
icans right is more precious than peace and that the 
people of the United States are ready to shed their 
blood in defense of those principles in the name of 
which they became a nation. 

For the sake of the same principles we are ready 
to face every sacrifice and every sorrow. 

We are fighting a terrible war. Our enemies were 
long since prepared for it, while we were content to 
live, trusting in peace, and only sought to contribute 
to the development of our people and to the progress 
of our country, almost unconscious of the clouds which 
so suddenly grew dark over our heads. 

We came into the war when we realized that there 
was no room for neutrals and that neutrality was 
neither possible nor desirable, when the freedom of 
all democratic nations was threatened and the very 
existence of free peoples was at stake. 

Ever since that day we have not hesitated before 
any danger or any suffering. Our wide fighting front 
presents conditions of exceptional difficulty. The 
enemy is, or has been until now, in possession of the 
best positions. He has dug deep trenches; he has 
concealed his guns among the mountains. We are 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 81 

even compelled to fight at altitudes of eight and ten 
thousand feet in spots where it seemed impossible 
that any fighting should ever take place. "We are 
alone on our wide and treacherous front, and every 
step forward that we take, every progress that we 
accomplish, costs us great efforts and many lives. 
The enthusiasm of our soldiers has often helped them 
among the glaciers of the Alps and the many snares 
of the Carso to triumph over difficulties which seemed 
to defy every human effort. But the deep faith 
which burns in them kept their strength alive. 

We must, we will, triumph over other difficulties 
and other insidious devices. 

Nature, which gave us our pure skies, our mild 
climate, has denied us almost entirely the two great 
necessities of modern industry — coal and iron. There- 
fore, with industries still in course of formation, Italy 
has had ever since their inception to overcome obsta- 
cles which appeared insuperable. Italy occupies one of 
the first places in Europe as regards the number and 
power of her waterfalls; but this wealth, which con- 
stitutes the great reserve of the future, has only 
been partly exploited until now. The treacherous 
enemy, who has long since prepared the weapons of 
aggression, not having obtained victory on the field, 
is now trying by means of submarine warfare to en- 
danger our existence, to cause a scarcity of food, and, 
above all, a scarcity of the coal which Italy needs for 
her ammunition factories, for her railways, and for 
her industries. 

We have reduced our consumption of all necessi- 



82 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

ties, and we are ready to reduce it still further witliin 
the limits of possibility. We do not complain of the 
privations that we have to endure. Wealth itself has 
no value if life and liberty are endangered. And 
when millions of soldiers offer their young lives for 
their country there is not one among the civil popula- 
tion who is not ready to make any sacrifice. 

But to overcome the dangers of the submarines, 
which, in defiance of every law of humanity, are not 
only destroying wealth but endangering the lives of 
peaceful travelers, sinking hospital ships, and mur- 
dering women and children, we must all make a great 
effort. 

We must unite all our forces to oppose the strong- 
est resistance to the insidious devices of the enemy. 
You possess a great and magnificent industrial or- 
ganization. You, more than any one, are in a posi- 
tion to put an end to the enemy's barbarous dream 
and to create with your energy much more than he 
can destroy. 

This great and terrible trial can only make us 
better men. They who know how to offer to the 
fatherland their wealth and their lives ; they who give 
themselves unto death and, more than themselves, that 
which is sweetest and most sacred, their children; 
they who are ready to suffer and to die; they 
will know when the morrow dawns how to contribute 
to civilization new elements of moral nobility and of 
strength. 

We must not grieve over our sorrows. When we 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 83 

fight for the rights of humanity we are conscious that 
we are elevating ourselves morally. 

When America proclaimed herself one with us a 
great joy ran through every city and every little 
village of Italy. We knew the full value of your co- 
operation, and at the same time we appreciated the 
nobility of your sentiments. 

The families of 3,000,000 Italians who dwell in the 
United States under the protection of your hospitable 
and just laws felt a deep sense of joy. 

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, the words 
which His Majesty the King of Italy, first among our 
soldiers, wrote to your President expressed his feel- 
ings and those of all his people. 

To-morrow when the news reaches Italy that this 
Congress, which represents the will of the American 
Nation, has desired to give to our mission the su- 
preme honor of welcoming it in its midst your friend- 
ly words will reach the farthermost points where men 
are fighting and suffering. And in the trenches, at 
the foot of the majestic Alps, there where the strug- 
gle is bitterest and where death is ever present, a 
thrill of joy and of hope will be felt — the joy of a 
sincere union, the hope of certain victory. 

At the conclusion of the Prince's address, the Speaker 
said he was "certain that every member of the House would 
be delighted to see and hear the man who invented wireless 
telegraphy, Signor Marconi." Prolonged applause greeted 
the inventor when he rose to reply: 

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, I appre- 



84 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

ciate very highly the honor and the privilege of be- 
ing allowed to say a word to you in this assembly. 
Up to two minutes ago I did not know that I would 
have the honor of being called upon to say a few 
words here, and I sincerely thank the Speaker for 
the privilege. I have had the pleasure of listening to 
the words spoken by the chief of our mission, his 
royal highness the Prince of Udine, and there is very 
little that I could add to his expressions or to his 
feelings, which are the feelings of the whole of Italy, 
which are feelings of friendship for this country and 
of appreciation for the great step which it has taken in 
joining us and our allies in Europe in this great war. 
There is one thing that I can add, however. It is 
that it was my privilege to live for many years in 
America and I think I know America and Americans 
fairly well. I flatter myself that I know them very 
well. No one more than myself rejoices in the fact 
that we in Italy have America with us. I have worked 
in America and America has always been, in a large 
way, in my plans, for without America my work 
could not have succeeded. I have learned to appre- 
ciate in America two things that I can express in two 
words — justice and fair play. You are ready to back 
anything that you think may be of good to the world, 
and you are ready to encourage any honest endeavor 
to advance science or the applications of science; 
and although you are the greatest industrial Nation 
in the world, although there is healthy competition — 
and it is only by that healthy competition there can 
be such progress — what you do here is always fair. 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 85 

I can say that with absolute conviction from the bot- 
tom of my heart. 

Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the House, I thank 
you very much for the way in which you have re- 
ceived this mission, for the way in which you have 
received the utterances of His Royal Highness, the 
president of our mission, and for the way in which 
you have received the very few remarks I have been 
able to improvise. 

BARON MONCHEUR IN WASHINGTON 

On June 20 Baron Moncheur, of the Belgian mission, 
expressed to the American people, through the Washing- 
ton correspondents, Belgium's gratitude for America's "gen- 
erous outpouring of material assistance and sympathy," and 
paid a special tribute to Herbert C. Hoover for his Belgian 
relief work, as follows: 

The purpose of our visit to this country is to ex- 
press to your Government and people the heartfelt 
gratitude of Belgium for the generous outpouring of 
material assistance and sympathy which have gone 
so far to save my stricken countrymen from the hor- 
rors of famine and to maintain their unshaken cour- 
age in this hour of trial. 

Our warm gratitude to you for this help will 
never cool, but you are now adding still more to our 
great debt. Our people, saved from famine, still 
groan under the yoke of a merciless invader. Of all 
the peoples of the world none have ever had a more 
flaming love of liberty than those of Belgium, and 



86 BALFOUR, VIYIANI AND JOFFRE 

this makes their suffering the more acute. Your en- 
try into the war not only brings to us the satisfaction 
of finding in an old friend a new ally, but fires us with 
complete confidence in an early and victorious issue 
of the great struggle which has brought to my coun- 
try so much of misery and suffering. 

Our admiration for your decision in entering the 
war is all the greater because we know that you did 
so in full knowledge of all its horrors, and realized 
fully the sacrifices you will be called upon to make, 
the tears that will flow, the inevitable heartache and 
sorrow that will darken your homes. This shows us, 
as nothing else could, the determination of your coun- 
try to see that when peace comes it shall be an honest 
peace, one that can last, and one that will bring free- 
dom and happiness to all nations. 

In voicing my country's gratitude I am happy to 
be able to pay a tribute of admiration and affection 
to Mr. Hoover, under whose able and untiring direc- 
tion the great work of feeding Belgium was carried 
on. We rejoice for you that a man so eminently fitted 
by ability and experience should be at your service 
in handling the great food problems that confront 
you. 

From being one of the foremost industrial nations 
of the world, ranking fourth among exporting coun- 
tries, Belgium for the time being has been ruthlessly 
wiped out. Her factories are closed. With cold cal- 
culation for the ruin of the country, the invader has 
even removed the machinery from our factories and 
shipped it to Germany as part of a far-sighted and 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 87 

cynical program of economic annihilation. And, 
worst of all, a part of Belgium's unoffending labor- 
ing class has been torn from their families and sent 
to toil in Germany under a system that would have 
offended the moral sense of the Middle Ages. 

But this is only a passing phase. Belgian con- 
fidence and courage have never wavered. On the day 
of deliverance sounds of industry will again be heard. 
And on that final day of victory the friendship of our 
two peoples, purified in the fire of suffering, will 
emerge greater and stronger than ever and unite us 
in even stronger bonds that shall, God willing, never 
be broken. 

On June 17 the Belgian Commissioners called at the 
White House and handed President Wilson an autograph 
letter from King Albert, which read as follows : 

I commend to Your Excellency's kindly reception 
the mission which bears this letter. This mission will 
express to the President the feelings of understand- 
ing and enthusiastic admiration with which my gov- 
ernment and people have received the decision reached 
by him in his wisdom. The mission will also tell you 
how greatly the important and glorious role enacted 
by the United States has confirmed the confidence 
which the Belgian nation has always had in free 
America's spirit of justice. 

The great American nation was particularly moved 
by the unwarranted and violent attacks made upon 
Belgium. It has sorrowed over the distress of my sub- 
jects, subjected to the yoke of the enemy. It has sue- 



88 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

cored them with incomparable generosity. I am happy 
to have an opportunity again to express to Your Ex- 
cellency the gratitude which my country owes you 
and the firm hope entertained by Belgium that on the 
day of reparation, toward which America will con- 
tribute so bountifully, full and entire justice will be 
rendered to my country. 

My government has chosen to express its sentiments 
to Your Excellency through two distinguished men, 
whose services will command credence for what they 
have to say — Baron Moncheur, who for eight years 
was my representative at Washington, and Lieutenant 
General Leclercq, who has earned high appreciation 
during a long military career. 

I venture to hope, Mr. President, that you will ac- 
cord full faith and credence to everything that they 
say, especially when they assure you of the hopes I 
entertain for the happiness and prosperity of the 
United States of America and of my faithful and very 
sincere friendship. Albert 

In presenting the King's letter, Baron Moncheur said: 

Since the first days of the greatest tragedy which 
has ever befallen humanity, Belgium has contracted 
an immense debt of gratitude to the generous Amer- 
ican nation. In a magnificent outburst of sympathy 
for the little country which had chosen to delay a 
powerful and pitiless enemy rather than to tarnish 
its honor or forswear its plighted word, the initiative 
of American citizens gave to the unfortunate victims 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 89 

of German cruelty in Belgium the most splendid evi- 
dences of generosity. 

But the chivalrous sentiments which animate the 
people of the United States went further than this 
when President Wilson, giving an admirable example 
of disinterested power, uttered the words well fitted 
to make us tremble with hope and to cause us to fix 
our eyes confidently upon the starry banner which 
has become more than ever the symbol of strength 
placed at the service of the highest and most pure 
principles. 

Yes, Belgium will again take her place among the 
nations. The enemy brought us massacre and dev- 
astation, but there still remains to the Belgian people 
their soil, made fertile by the toil of their ancestors; 
there still remains to Belgium an industrious popula- 
tion of unconquerable energy. 

Leaning upon the young, strong, and generous hand 
which the American people holds out to her, Belgium, 
once she is delivered from the oppression of the 
enemy, will arise, and, throwing aside the odious 
weight of foreign occupation, will, courageously and 
proudly, resume the path of progress in the light of 
the sun of liberty. 

President Wilson, in thanking Baron Moneheur, and 
through him King Albert, said: 

Your Excellency is good enough to express the 
thanks of the Belgian people for the participation of 
America in feeding the people of your stricken coun- 
try. This work in which so many Americans have 



90 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

been enthusiastically engaged since the beginning of 
the war is one which has brought as much benefit 
to them as to the innocent civilian population whom 
it was intended to aid. 

America engaged upon this work as being the only- 
means, however inadequate, of expressing our deep 
and sincere admiration for the valiant nation that 
has gone forth unhesitatingly to meet the onslaughts 
of a ruthless enemy rather than sacrifice her honor 
and her self-respect. 

The American people have been able to understand 
and glory in the unflinching heroism of the Belgian 
people and their sovereign, and there is not one among 
us who does not to-day welcome the opportunity of 
expressing to you our heartfelt sympathy and friend- 
ship, and our solemn determination that on the in- 
evitable day of victory Belgium shall be restored to 
the place she has so richly won among the self- 
respecting and respected nations of the earth. 

BARON MONCHEUR IN THE SENATE 

On June 22, the Belgian Mission was received in the Sen- 
ate Chamber with a great demonstration. Baron Moncheur 
made an address and at its conclusion all the Senators were 
presented to him and to the other members of the com- 
mission. His address was as follows: 

You all know the unspeakable evils which have be- 
fallen my unfortunate country — the unprovoked in- 
vasion, accompanied by a deliberate system of terror, 
the burning of many of our thriving cities, and of 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 91 

innumerable villages, the massacre of thousands of our 
peaceful citizens, the pillage and devastation of our 
country. 

Then followed the iron hand of foreign domina- 
tion, enormous war contributions exacted from all 
the nine provinces of Belgium, ruinous requisitions 
of all sorts from our people, the seizure of the raw 
material of industry, and even the theft of our ma- 
chinery which was sent into the country of our enemy 
for his own use, so that now the silence of death 
reigns in our industrial centers which before had 
been the most active in Europe. 

You also know, gentlemen, the way in which this 
regime of oppression has been carried out — eighty 
thousand Belgians condemned in the space of one 
year to various penalties for having displeased the 
invader, as, for example, the noble Burgomaster of 
Brussels, who has been in imprisonment for the past 
two years for trying to uphold the principle of civic 
liberty which for centuries has been so dear to all 
Belgians. 

You have learned also of the deportation of our 
workmen into Germany — a crime the horrors of which, 
according to the opinion of one of our countrymen, 
should cause more indignation throughout the entire 
world than all the previous outrages against the sacred 
principles of justice and of humanity. 

But Belgium, even in the midst of the terrible mis- 
fortunes which have been brought upon her by her 
fidelity to treaties and by respect for her plighted 
word, does not regret her decision, and there is not 



92 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

a single Belgian worthy of the name who does not 
now, as on the first day of war, approve the judgment 
of our Government that it is better to die, if need be, 
rather than to live without honor. Like Patrick 
Henry, all Belgians say, ' ' Give me liberty or give me 
death." 

This sentiment will be shared by all the citizens of 
the great American nation, who responded with such 
enthusiasm and with such unanimity to the noble 
words of your President, when, in terms which held 
the world spellbound, he proclaimed the imprescrip- 
tible right of justice over force. 

The courage of my fellow-countrymen has been 
strengthened, also, by the sympathy for our misfor- 
tunes which has been manifested throughout your 
great land. American initiative has bestowed most 
generous help upon our starving population, and in 
offering from this tribune the expression of grati- 
tude of every Belgian heart, I wish, also, to render 
special homage to that admirable organization, the 
Commission for Relief in Belgium, which has done so 
much to save our people from starvation. 

Yes, gentlemen, the sympathy of America gives us 
new courage, and while King Albert, who since the 
fateful day when our territory was violated, has re- 
mained steadfastly at the front, continues the strug- 
gle with indomitable energy at the head of our army 
intrenched upon the last strip of our soil that re- 
mains to us, while the Queen, that worthy companion 
of a great sovereign, expends her unceasing efforts 
to comfort and relieve the victims of battle, exciting 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 93 

enthusiasm by her contempt for the danger to which 
she exposes herself day by day, on the other side of 
the enemy's lines of steel stand the Belgian people, 
bowed between the yoke but never conquered, main- 
taining their unshaken patriotism in spite of the 
enemy as well as in spite of his iron rule. The Bel- 
gian population, a martyr whose courage is upheld 
by our great Cardinal Mercier, awaits silently in the 
sacred union of all parties the final hour of deliver- 
ance. 

That hour, gentlemen, will, I am convinced, be 
materially hastened by the powerful aid of the United 
States, and the time approaches when Belgium, re- 
stored to full and complete independence, both polit- 
ically and economically, will be able to thank in a 
fitting manner all those who have aided her to emerge 
from the darkness of the tomb into the glorious light 
of a new life. 

BARON MONCHEUR IN THE HOUSE 

On June 27 the Belgian Mission, headed by Baron Mon- 
cheur, was received in the House, the galleries crowded, 
and the floor filled with members, who gave them a cor- 
dial reception. Baron Moncheur spoke, in part, as follows : 

If, years ago, I admired your country in the fulness 
of prosperity, and wondered at your industrial genius 
and the marvelous activity of your citizens, it is with 
even greater admiration that I now see your entire 
nation rise as one man to answer the voice of your 
President calling upon you to put forth all your 
efforts and devotion for the defense of freedom and 



94 BALFOUR, VIYIANI AND JOFFRE 



the rights of mankind. All the sons of America, with- 
out distinction of race or of party, have rallied to 
your flag. They think only of their duty to their 
country. They are ever ready to sacrifice their pri- 
vate and personal interests and, leaving behind them 
their dear ones, who will be plunged in grief and tears 
on account of their absence, they rally to the Star- 
Spangled Banner, which for the first time in your his- 
tory has crossed the ocean to float over the battlefields 
of the Old World. 

As in the Middle Ages the knights were accustomed 
to hold a vigil, watching their armor in the chapel, so 
you to-day are making the same holy and prayerful 
preparation for the battle to come. Everywhere you 
are carrying on work which day by day brings nearer 
the moment of supreme victory. While the flower of 
American youth is preparing itself in your splendid 
training camps, your shipyards, your factories, and 
your munition plants sound with the hum of feverish 
work providing your soldiers with the implements of 
war. American aviation, that marvelous product of 
the New World, is making ready to lend its powerful 
aid, also, to support our armies. Is it not natural 
indeed that the American Eagle should from the skies 
strike the death blow to the enemy? 

After your great stroke for liberty in 1776 you 
formed a society which you called the Order of the 
Cincinnati to indicate that when war was finished you 
knew how to beat your swords into plowshares; and 
now, when war has been forced upon you, you have 
given proof that you know equally well how to turn 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 95 

your plowshares into swords. Some twenty years 
ago Prince Albert, of Belgium, heir to a throne which 
seemed to be safely sheltered from the blast of war, 
came to America, where he studied with the deepest 
interest your marvelous country and the wonderful 
works of industry and commerce which you had devel- 
oped in the quietude of peace. And now how can I 
express the sentiment which fills his heroic soul when, 
fighting at the head of his troops in the last trench 
on Belgian soil, he sees the sons of that same indus- 
trious America land upon the coast of Europe, brave 
champions of the most noble principles, and ready to 
lay down their lives in defense of right and justice. 

On a certain occasion a mighty sovereign declared, 
"the Pyrenees exist no more," and to-day we can say 
with even more truth, ''there is no longer any ocean" 
—for endless friendship, cemented by gratitude and 
joint effort and suffering in the cause of justice and 
liberty, will forever obliterate the barrier of the seas 
and unite the children of old Belgium to the sons 
of the young and powerful republic of the New World. 

MR. BAKHMETIEFF IN WASHINGTON 

On June 21 the determination of Russia to war with Ger- 
man autocracy to the end was avowed in Washington by 
Special Ambassador Boris A. Bakhmetieff, head of the Rus- 
sian mission, in a statement to the American people. Only 
through victory, he said, could a stable world-peace and 
the fruits of the Russian revolution be secured. This state- 
ment read: 

In behalf of the Russian Provisional Government 



96 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

and in behalf of all the people of new Russia, I have 
been first of all sent here to express their gratitude 
to the Government of the United States for the 
prompt recognition of the new political order in Rus- 
sia. 

This noble action of the world 's greatest democracy 
has afforded us strong moral support and has created 
among the people a general feeling of profound ap- 
preciation. Close and active relationship between the 
two nations based upon complete and sincere under- 
standing encountered inevitable obstacles during the 
old regime because of its very nature. The situa- 
tion is now radically changed with free Russia start- 
ing a new era in her national life. The natural and 
deep feeling of sympathy which always existed be- 
tween the people of the two great nations will grow 
now by the force of events into a stable friendship, 
into permanent and active cooperation. 

I have been in this country heretofore on several 
occasions. I have here many friends and have al- 
ways looked forward to a close union and friend- 
ship between the United States and Russia. The 
United States, with its enormous natural resources 
and its wonderful genius for organization, can now 
greatly aid in the work of reconstruction which is 
taking place in Russia. 

Another object of our mission is to establish the 
most effective means by which the American and Rus- 
sian democracies can work hand in hand in the com- 
mon task of successfully carrying on the war. The 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 97 

friendly assistance which the United States has al- 
ready rendered has been of the highest value. 

The Provisional Government is actually mobilizing 
all its resources and is making great efforts to organ- 
ize the country and the army for the purpose of con- 
ducting the war. We hope to establish a very close 
and active cooperation with the United States in order 
to secure the most successful and intensive accom- 
plishments of all work necessary for our common end. 
For the purpose of discussing all matters relating to 
military affairs, munitions and supplies, railways 
and transportations, finance and agriculture, our mis- 
sion includes eminent and distinguished specialists. 

On the other hand, I hope that the result of our 
stay and work in America will bring about a clear 
understanding on the part of your public of what 
has happened in Russia, and also of the present situa- 
tion and the end for which our people are most ear- 
nestly striving. There have been many and various 
narratives of what has been and is taking place in 
Russia, but there seems to be lack of exact and true 
comprehension. Our commission will make every en- 
deavor to throw light upon the very great and world 
important events of the Russian Revolution. 

The achievements of the revolution are to be for- 
mally set forth in fundamental laws enacted by a 
Constitutional Assembly, which is to be convoked as 
soon as possible. In the meanwhile the Provisional 
Government is confronted with the task of bringing 
into life the democratic principles which were pro- 
mulgated during the revolution. It is actively en- 



98 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

gaged in reconstructing the very life of the entire 
country along democratic lines, introducing freedom, 
equality and self-government. 

New Russia received from the old Government a 
burdensome heritage of economic and technical dis- 
organization, which affected all branches of the life 
of the State, a disorganization which weighs yet heav- 
ily on the whole country. The Provisional Govern- 
ment is doing everything in its power to relieve the 
difficult situation. It has adopted many measures 
for supplying plants with raw material and fuel, for 
regulating the transportation of the food supply for 
the army and for the country and for relieving the 
financial difficulties. 

In this energetic work of reconstruction, essential 
for Russia's active participation in the war, the Pro- 
visional Government is steadily gaining in strength 
and activity. The latest reports demonstrate that the 
new Government has the capacity to carry on its 
work with vigor along practical lines, and is exercis- 
ing real power which is daily increasing. Such power 
is based on the general confidence and full and whole- 
hearted support accorded to the new coalition Minis- 
try. 

The participation in the new Government by new 
members who are active and prominent leaders in the 
Council of Workmen and Soldiers has secured full 
support from the democratic masses. The esteem in 
which such leaders as Mr. Kerensky and others are 
held among the working classes and soldiers is con- 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 99 

tributing to the strength and stability of the new 
Government. 

The Constitutional-Democratic Party, the Labor 
Party, the Socialist-Populists, and excepting a small 
group of extremists, the Social Democrats — all these 
parties, embracing the vast majority of the people, are 
represented by strong leaders in the new Govern- 
ment, thereby securing for it authority. Firmly con- 
vinced that unity of power is essential and casting 
aside class and special interests, all social and political 
elements have joined in the national program which 
the new Government proclaimed and which it is striv- 
ing to fiulfil. This program follows : 

''The Provisional Government, rejecting, in accord 
with the whole people of Russia, all thought of sep- 
arate peace, puts it openly as its deliberate purpose 
the promptest achievement of universal peace, such 
peace to presume no dominion over other nations, no 
seizure of their national property nor any forced 
usurpation of foreign territory; peace with no an- 
nexations or contributions, based upon the free de- 
termination by each nation of its destinies. 

"Being fully convinced that the establishment of 
democratic principles in its internal and external 
policy has created a new factor in the striving of 
allied democracies for durable peace and fraternity 
of all nations, the Provisional Government will take 
preparatory steps for an agreement with the Allies 
founded on its declaration of March 27. The Pro- 
visional Government is conscious that the defeat of 
Russia and her Allies would be the source of the 



100 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

greatest misery and would not only postpone but even 
make impossible the establishment of universal peace 
on a firm basis. 

' * The Provisional Government is convinced that the 
revolutionary army of Russia will not allow the Ger- 
man troops to destroy our Allies on the western front 
and then fall upon us with the whole might of their 
weapons. The chief aim of the Provisional Govern- 
ment will be to fortify the democratic foundations of 
the army and organize and consolidate the army's 
fighting power for its defensive as well as offensive 
purposes." 

The last decision of the Russian Congress of the 
Workingmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, the decision of 
the All-Russian Peasant Congress, the decision of the 
Duma, the voice of the country as expressed from 
day to day by almost the entire Russian press, in reso- 
lutions adopted at different conferences and con- 
gresses — all these confirm their full support to this 
national program and leave not the slightest doubt 
that Russia is decided as to the necessity to fight the 
German autocracy until the conditions for a general 
and stable peace in Europe are established. 

Such decision is becoming more and more evident 
each day by practical work and results and shows it- 
self in the pressing and rapid reorganization of the 
army which is now being fulfilled under the firm and 
efficient measures adopted by Minister Kerensky. 

The Russian people thoroughly understand and are 
fully convinced that it is absolutely necessary to root 
out the autocratic principles which underlie and are 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 101 

represented by German militarism and which threaten 
the peace, the freedom and the happiness of the 
world. The Russian people feel most keenly that no 
stable peace can be secured until the German auto- 
cratic principles are destroyed, and that otherwise the 
revolution will have been in vain and its achievements 
will perish. 

New Russia, in full accord with the motives which 
impelled the United States to enter the war, is striv- 
ing to destroy tyranny, to establish peace on a se- 
cure and permanent foundation and to make the world 
safe for democracy. We are representing here the 
political unity which has been crystallized in Russia 
and around which a national program has been de- 
veloped. To our host of friends in the United States 
we appeal and without distinction of party or class 
we will work hand in hand for the common cause. 

The Russian mission was entertained the same evening 
by President Wilson at a state dinner at the White House 
with members of the Cabinet, Congressional leaders and 
high officials of the army and navy present. 

MR. BAKHMETIEFF IN THE HOUSE 

Professor Boris Bakhmetieff and other members of the 
Russian Commission received a tumultuous reception in the 
House of Representatives on June 23, when they gave as- 
surance of their country's earnest purpose to continue the 
war. The event was perhaps the most hearty and spon- 
taneous of all the receptions given to special commissioners 
of foreign powers. Half a dozen times members rose and 
applauded. It was sometimes necessary for the Speaker to 



102 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

bang his gavel to stop the uproar. Members who on previ- 
ous visits of missions had merely applauded or remained 
quietly in their seats, now cheered loudly. Men, women, 
and children in the galleries caught the wave of enthusiasm, 
shouting and waving handkerchiefs. Professor Bakhmetieff, 
who spoke in excellent English and with much fervor, 
said : 

When addressing you on behalf of the Govern- 
ment and the people of new Russia, when conveying 
to you the greetings of the new-bom Russian de- 
mocracy, you will conceive how impressed I am by the 
historical significance of this moment. 

Does not one feel occasionally that the very great- 
ness and significance of events are not fully appre- 
ciated, due to the facility and spontaneity with which 
the great change has been completed ? Does one real- 
ize what it really means to humanity that a nation 
of 180,000,000, a country boundless in expanse, has 
been suddenly set free from the worst of oppression, 
has been given the joy of a free, self-conscious ex- 
istence ? 

Instead of the old forms there are now being firmly 
established and deeply embedded in the minds of the 
nation principles that power is reposed and springs 
from and only from the people. To effectuate these 
principles and to enact appropriate fundamental laws 
is going to be the main function of the constitutional 
assembly which is to be convoked as promptly as 
possible. 

This assembly, elected on a democratic basis, is to 
represent the will and constructive power of the na- 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 103 

tion. It will inaugurate the forms of future political 
existence as well as establish the fundamental basis 
of economic structure of future Russia. Eventually 
all main questions of national being will be brought 
before and will be decided by the constitutional as- 
sembly, constitution, civil and criminal law, adminis- 
tration, nationalities, religion, reorganization of 
finance, land problem, conditionment of labor, anni- 
hilation of all restrictive legislation, encouragement of 
intense and fruitful development of the country. 
These are the tasks of the assembly, the aspirations 
and hopes of the nation. 

Gentlemen of the House, do you not really feel 
that the assembly is expected to bring into life once 
more the grand principle which your illustrious Pres- 
ident so aptly expressed in the sublime words, * * Gov- 
ernment by consent of the governed " ? It is the Pro- 
visional Government that is governing Russia at pres- 
ent. It is the task of the Provisional Government to 
conduct Russia safely to the constitutional assembly. 

Guided by democratic precepts, the Provisional 
Government meanwhile is reorganizing the country on 
the basis of freedom, equality, and self-government, 
rebuilding its economic and financial structure. 

The outstanding feature of the present Government 
is its recognition as fundamental and all impor- 
tant of the principles of legality. It is manifestly 
understood in Russia that the law, having its origin in 
the people 's will, is the substance of the very existence 
of the State. 

Reposing confidence in such rule, the Russian peo- 



104 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

pie are rendering to the new authorities their support. 
The people are realizing more and more that for the 
very sake of further freedom law must be maintained 
and manifestation of anarchy suppressed. 

In this respect local life has exemplified wonder- 
ful exertion of spontaneous public spirit which has 
contributed to the most effective process of self-organ- 
ization of the nation. On many occasions, following 
the removal of the old authorities, a new elected ad- 
ministration has naturally arisen, conscious of na- 
tional interest and often developing in its spontaneity 
amazing examples of practical statesmanship. 

It is these conditions, which provide that the Pro- 
visional Government is gaining every day in impor- 
tance and power; is gaining capacity to check ele- 
ments if disorder, derived either from attempts at re- 
action or extremism. At the present time the Pro- 
visional Government has started to take most decisive 
measures in that respect, employing force when neces- 
sary, although always striving for peaceful solution. 

The last resolutions, which have been framed by 
the Council of Workingmen, the Congress of Peasants, 
and other democratic organizations, render the best 
proof of the general understanding of the necessity of 
creating strong power. The coalitionary character 
of the new cabinet, which includes eminent Socialist 
leaders, and represents all the vital elements of the 
nation, therefore enjoying its full support, is most ef- 
fectively securing the unity and power of the Cen- 
tral Government, the lack of which was so keenly felt 
during the first two months after the revolution. 



I 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 105 

Realizing the grandeur and complexity of the pres- 
ent events and conscious of the danger which is threat- 
ening the very achievements of the revolution, the 
Russian people are gathering around the new Govern- 
ment, united on a ''national program." It is this 
program of "national salvation" which has united 
the middle classes, as well as the Populists, the labor 
elements, and Socialists. Deep political wisdom has 
been exhibited by subordinating class interests and 
differences to national welfare. In this way this Gov- 
ernment is supported by an immense majority of the 
nation, and outside of reactionaries only, is being op- 
posed by comparatively small groups of extremists 
and internationalists. 

As to foreign policy, Russia's national program has 
been clearly set forth in the statement of the Provi- 
sional Government of March 27, and more explicitly 
in the declaration of the new Government of May 18. 

With all emphasis may I state that Russia rejects 
any idea of separate peace. I am aware that rumors 
were circulated in this country that a separate peace 
seemed probable. I am happy to affirm that such 
rumors are wholly without foundation in fact. What 
Russia is aiming for is the establishment of a firm and 
lasting peace between democratic nations. The tri- 
umph of German autocracy would render such peace 
impossible. It would be the source of the greatest 
misery and besides that a threatening menace to Rus- 
sia's freedom. The Provisional Government is making 
all endeavors to reorganize and fortify the army for 
action in common with its allies. 



106 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Gentlemen of the House, I will close my address 
by saying Eussia will not fail to be a worthy partner 
in the ' * league of honor. ' ' 

After this address, members of the mission stood in a 
receiving hne while members of the House passed by. 
Every one warmly congratulated Ambassador Bakhmetieff 
on his address. "You see how we feel about it," Secre- 
tary McAdoo said, as he warmly pressed Mr. Bakhmetieff's 
hand. "I came up especially to hear you. It was a very 
fine address." Such expressions as, "You touched the 
point," "YouVe hit the bull's-eye," "You're a dandy," 
"You're a cracker jack," "You gave us a lot of reassurance 
we wanted to hear," accompanied handclasps as the mem- 
bers filed by. 

THE BELGIANS AND RUSSIANS IN MOUNT VERNON 

Again, on a Sunday — June 24 — Mount Vernon was vis- 
ited by European envoys. Those of Belgium and Russia 
united on that day in a visit. The two missions, accom- 
panied by members of the Cabinet and other high Govern- 
ment officials, were taken down the Potomac in the May- 
flower. The predominance of military uniforms and white 
civilian dress made an impressive sight as the gathering 
formed in a semi-circle about the tomb, over which flew 
the Belgian, Russian and American flags. Baron Mon- 
cheur, aided by Lieutenant General Leclereq, and Ambas- 
sador Bakhmetieff, aided by Lieutenant General Roop, 
placed floral wreaths in the tomb beside similar wreaths 
that had been laid there by Mr. Balfour, M. Viviani, Mar- 
shal Joffre, and the Prince of Udine. Baron Moncheur 
spoke earnestly and slowly: 

In this solemn hour, when freedom is locked in 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 107 

a death struggle with the powers of darkness, we 
come to pay homage to the great founder of American 
liberty. 

Although his body lies here, his work survives, and 
his spirit still lives in the American people. I know 
of nothing which typifies that spirit better than the 
words of Washington, when, in bequeathing his sword 
to his nephew, he added the injunction that it should 
never be drawn except in defense of liberty and jus- 
tice, and that, when once drawn, it should never be 
sheathed before the complete victory of right over 
wrong. 

It is that spirit which animates your nation in the 
present as in the past. You looked across the sea and 
saw liberty struggling in the grasp of autocracy, that 
hideous monster, the enemy of mankind. You came 
to her aid, and by throwing your mighty sword into 
the scales you have insured that right will prevail, 
and that the world will be made safe for all honest 
nations — the small as well as the great. 

You have done what Washington would have done. 
And therefore, in paying homage to the father of 
your country, I offer a tribute of devotion and grati- 
tude to the whole American people. 

Secretary Daniels then presented Ambassador Bakhme- 
tieff, who said: 

With a feeling of deepest veneration have we ap- 
proached this sacred tomb. In the life of nations 
there happen to be times when the trivial every-day 
facts of existence, with all their common interests and 



108 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

petty strife, shallow feeling and routine activity are 
replaced by epochs of blazing and impetuous develop- 
ment, unrestrained displays of creative genius ; epochs 
when customs, habits and national interests are swept 
away in the irresistible flow of events; epochs when 
the days count for ages; epochs of historical cata- 
clysm, turning points of history for mankind. Such 
epochs carry the greatest calamities and the greatest 
blessings. Bloodshed, slaughter, all the horrors of 
war and civil strife, all the miseries, sorrows, all the 
suffering of expiatory sacrifice, are characteristic of 
them. 

But great is the burning idealism of individuals 
and nations, luminous the display of human nature 
in its primordial beauty, splendid the stately progress 
of victorious humanity, majestic the great sonorous 
footsteps of history. Such epochs breed their own 
men, heroes and symbols of grand feats. George 
Washington lived at such an epoch, he was the hero 
and spokesman of his time. Fate has bestowed on us 
the blessing to be witnesses and partakers of such 
an epoch from the smoking ruins of heroic Bel- 
gium and Poland, ruins soaked by blood of nameless 
martyrs. 

From the cries of sorrow and misery of innocent 
victims there is rising the dawn of a new life, life 
of peaceful prosperitj^, justice and humanity, growing 
out of the conquered and smashed remnants of mili- 
tant autocracy. To us Eussians this epoch has brought 
emancipation, has set oppressed nations free, has 
abolished the injustice of racial prejudice. Nearly 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 109 

two hundred million human beings have got the bless- 
ing of freedom which more than one hundred years 
ago George Washington had consecrated in this coun- 
try. With a feeling of solemn veneration and over- 
whelming emotion I bestow on this immortal tomb 
this wreath as a tribute to the hero, to the knight of 
liberty and democracy, from the messengers of Rus- 
sia's freedom. 

MB. BAKHMETIEFF IN THE SENATE 

On June 26 the Russian Mission was received in the Sen- 
ate. Mr. Bakhmetieff's address was greeted with a dem- 
onstration equaling that made for him in the House. He 
spoke, in part, as follows: 

At this moment all eyes are turned on Russia. 
Many hopes and doubts are raised by the tide of 
events in the greatest of revolutions at an epoch in the 
world 's greatest war. The fate of nations, the fate of 
the world, is at stake. The revolution called for the 
reconstruction of the very foundation of our national 
life. The creation anew of a country of boundless 
expanse on distinctly new principles will, of course, 
take time, and impatience should not be shown in the 
consummation of so grand an event as Russia's entry 
into the ranks of free nations. 

We should not forget that in this immense transfor- 
mation various interests will seek to assert them- 
selves, and, until the work of settlement is completed, 
a struggle among opposing currents is inevitable, and 
exaggerations cannot be avoided. Attempts on the 
part of disorganizing elements to take advantage of 



110 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

this moment of transition must be expected and met 
with cahnness and confidence. 

Two considerations make me feel that Russia has 
passed the stage of the world when the future ap- 
peared vague and uncertain. In the first place is the 
firm conviction of the necessity of legality which is 
widely developing and firmly establishing itself 
through the country. This principle is based on the 
doctrine that governments derive their just power 
from the consent of the governed, and hence a strong 
government must be created by the will of the people. 
My latest advices give joyful confirmation of the es- 
tablishment of a firm power, strong in its democratic 
precepts and activity, strong in the trust reposed in it 
by the people in its ability to enforce law and order. 

In the second place and no less important is the 
growing conviction that the issues of the revolution 
and the future of Russia's freedom are closely con- 
nected with the fighting might of the country. It 
is such power, it is the force of arms which alone can 
define and make certain the achievements of the 
revolution against autocratic aggression. There has 
been a period closely following the revolution of al- 
most total suspension of all military activity, a period 
of what appeared to be disintegration of the army, a 
period which gave rise to serious doubts and to gloomy 
forebodings. At the same time there ensued unlimited 
freedom of speech and of the press, which afforded op- 
portunities for expression of the most extreme and 
anti-national views, from all of which resulted wide- 
spread rumors throughout the world that Russia 



WASHINGTON, MT. VERNON AND RICHMOND 111 

would abandon the war and conclude a separate peace 
with the Central Powers. 

With all emphasis and with the deepest convic- 
tion, may I reiterate the statement that such rumors 
were wholly without foundation in fact. Russia re- 
jects with indignation any idea of separate peace. 
What my country is striving for is the establishment 
of a firm and lasting peace between democratic na- 
tions. Russia is firmly convinced that a separate 
peace would mean the triumph of German autocracy, 
would render lasting peace impossible, create the 
greatest danger for democracy and liberty, and ever 
be a threatening menace to the new-born freedom of 
Russia. 

Conscious of its enormous task, the Provisional 
Government is taking measures to promptly restore 
throughout the country conditions of life so deeply 
disorganized by the inefficiency of the previous rulers, 
and to provide for whatever is necessary for military 
success. 

Russia wants the world to be safe for democracy. 
To make it safe means to have democracy rule the 
world. 

RUMANIAN COMMISSIONERS IN WASHINGTON 

A mission from Rumania reached Washington on June 
29 and sought quarters at a hotel. Dr. Vasile Lucaci, the 
head of the party, was accompanied by Johan Mota and 
Lieut. V. Stocia. They called at the State Department 
next day, and, in the absence of a Rumanian diplomatic 
representative in Washington, introduced themselves. It was 



112 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the main purpose of this mission to stimulate recruiting 
for the Rumanian army among their countrymen in Amer- 
ica. It was the second mission that had come to this 
country from a small nation, the Belgian being the first. 
When the United States entered the war, Premier Bratiano, 
of Rumania, had sent by cable a welcome to us, in which 
he said: 

Rumania is happy and proud to be by the side of 
the United States in the fight against those who imag- 
ined they could violate and warp, as their strength 
and selfish interests might dictate, the normal and 
democratic development of the great human family. 

Rumania entered the war in the autumn of 1916, to 
liberate Rumanians who had long been kept in Austrian 
bondage, and reunite them with their own people. Her 
army, as reorganized, was now believed to be ready to take 
the field again. Though defeated badly — the country being 
more than half overrun — she had not been put out of 
action. Her army remained practically intact, owing to 
its successful retreat. In this war, as in some other wars, 
it was not the taking of territory, but the destruction or 
capture of armies that counted. To Rumania's defeat two 
things had contributed — Rumania's own inadequate con- 
ception of the size of her task when Germans, Austrians, 
Turks and Bulgarians were all her enemies, and the failure 
of the Russian Government now under German influence 
to give her the support she expected. Both factors had 
disappeared from the situation by the summer of 1917. 
Rumania had no reason longer to fear high-placed Rus- 
sian treachery, and she now had no illusions about the 
size of her task. She was counted on for good work when- 
ever General Brusiloff should be able to give the signal. 



in 

IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 

M. VIVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFFRE IN CHICAGO 

The French mission, including M. Viviani, Marshal 
Joffre, and Admiral Chocheprat, left Washington by spe- 
cial train on May 3 for a tour of Middle Western States, 
extending over 3,200 miles. A great crowd gathered at 
the Union Station to see them off. On three tall flagstaffs 
were seen the flags of the United States, France, and Great 
Britain. Officials representing the State, Navy, and War 
Departments, Ambassador Jusserand, and other diplo- 
mats, followed the Frenchmen to their train. At 3 :30 
o'clock the train started, with the crowd cheering and the 
Frenchmen on the observation platform waving their hats 
until their car disappeared in the distance. M. Viviani 
had that day issued the following statement to Washington 
newspaper correspondents : 

Gentlemen : Allow me to express my sincere regret 
if circumstances prevent my bidding you good-by in 
person this morning. But to-day every moment is 
taken up, and unfortunately I cannot shake hands 
with you individually. But I desire not to leave 
Washington without thanking you for the help you 
have so kindly extended to us, and the cordial and 
sympathetic way in which you have always spoken 
of our mission. Thanks to you, we have been enabled 

113 



114 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

to convey to every one our feelings of warm gratitude 
for the magnificent welcome we have received in 
Washington. 

The mission will always retain a grateful recollec- 
tion of the most charming hospitality which has been 
extended to it, and of all the delicate attentions by 
which it has been surrounded in this beautiful city 
Major L 'Enfant so admirably designed. Our regrets 
are diminished by the thought that after the most 
interesting trip we are about to take we shall return 
to this city, where we can find no better conclusions 
to the journey we have so pleasantly begun. Con- 
sequently I bid you au revoir, not adieu. 

In Chicago the half-day that followed the arrival was 
crowded with patriotic outbursts, beginning with a motor 
ride from the station through deep-canyoned city streets 
overhung with the tri-color of France, the Stars and 
Stripes, and the British flag. Women, equally with men, 
formed the vast crowds. Children not infrequently saluted 
the hero of the Marne with a shrill, "Vive la France," which 
brought always a smile and a salute from the great soldier. 
At a meeting in the Auditorium pandemonium for a time 
reigned. It was with great difiBculty that the crowd could 
be subdued. M. Viviani said: 

I was deeply touched with the applause which rang 
through the hall as the national air of France was 
played, and also that of America. I have also been 
very deeply impressed with the talks given by Mr. 
Bancroft, the Mayor of Chicago and the Governor of 
your State of Illinois. 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 115 

In 1871 Fate was against us, and we suffered heavy 
losses. They took from us our Alsace and Lorraine. 
But we will have it — to-morrow! Our country has 
been very patient, in spite of many provocations, of 
which I might mention Tangier, Casa Blanca and 
others, but it was not until 1914 that it became im- 
perative for us to defend our rights. 

Germany, who had been preparing herself for this 
war for a period of forty-five years, then came for- 
ward, expecting to conquer in a few hours, a few 
days, or a few months. But all of our children 
answered the call as they would that of their own 
mother. While the enemy were temporarily successful 
as Fate was again against us, we withdrew until our 
general had completed his plans of defense; he then 
gave us the order, "En avant!" Then our soldiers, 
with blood in their eyes and determination in their 
hearts, responded bravely. Within a few days fifty 
kilometers of France had been retaken. 

It is with the greatest of pleasure that I can recall 
that part your country played right from the opening 
of the war. As I recall seeing the first fifty-four 
American ambulances entered in the service I also 
remember the beautiful sight of your American women 
leaning over the beds of both our wounded and dying 
soldiers, and also recall the beautiful work done right 
from the start by your American doctors. 

While you were a considerable distance from the 
seat of war, and while owing to the censor the true 
history of the battle of the Marne never reached you, 
it is impossible that you did not have some idea of the 



116 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

battles of the Marne, Yser, Somme and Verdun. You 
should have seen the French army as it really was. 

We could see our own sons bleeding and dying by 
the roadside, and notwithstanding this sight our army 
kept up its courage. Inspired by the feelings of de- 
mocracy, the grand armies of France proceeded on 
their victorious way in keeping with the spirit of 
patriotism and democracy which has animated the 
hearts of their brethren in responding from this side 
of the Atlantic. It is this spirit which will lead us 
to the abolition of autocracy. 

That is the reason the people of this country 
responded so freely to the call of your President Wil- 
son for the freedom of the world. 

In closing I am glad to extend the thanks of the 
commission to you, who have received us as brothers. 

And may heaven's blessings fall upon each and 
all of you. 

When M. Viviani referred to the first onrush of the 
German army almost to the doors of Paris, and the order 
of General Joffre to the army to take the historic offensive 
that drove them back thirty miles from the Marne, the hero 
of that battle brushed tears away with his clenched fist and 
rose impulsively to embrace the orator. Marshal Joffre, 
urged by repeated and vociferous demands, then made his 
first, though a very brief, speech in America, and brought 
cheering throngs to their feet amid waving flags. 

In the evening a dinner was given to the visitors in the 
gold room of the Congress Hotel, the decorations French 
and American colors. Near the end of the dinner the main 
lights were flashed off and a French flag thrown up in red, 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 117 

white and blue on the west wall, as all faced it and saluted, 
while the orchestra played the "Marseillaise.'^ A set of 
incandescent lights representing the Stars and Stripes was 
then switched on, and all turned and saluted America's col- 
ors as the "Star-Spangled Banner" was sung. Marshal 
Joffre stood at salute during these ceremonies, his massive 
figure soldierly and towering over the civilian proportions of 
Minister Viviani. In response to a toast, M. Viviani said: 

Mr. McCormick has just recalled in the most flat- 
tering words, words which have gone straight to our 
hearts, the glorious memories of our common history. 

I wonder as I speak what Lafayette would think 
of the development of his adventure. He well knew 
that he hrought the help of French arms to the cause 
of American independence. His pride was to be the 
companion in arms of your great Washington; he 
might well suppose that the independence thus 
planted on your soil would flourish long and that his 
name would be revered by all American hearts and 
consciences. 

But could he foresee that 140 years later republican 
France, after being a monarchy, after winning its 
own independence, after helping other nations to win 
theirs, finally would be drawn against its will into 
the greatest conflict known to history, and that other 
Frenchmen coming to your land would find not only 
the proud memory of his name, but the expressions 
of a gratitude which a few moments ago you uttered ? 

Let me say that already through Lafayette you have 
paid in part your debt of gratitude. 

It is because Lafayette came to this land in his 



118 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

youth, it is because he lived side by side with your 
great "Washington, it is because he saw the rise of your 
puissant American independence, that he was able to 
bring back to France the lessons and virtues taught 
him here and that, in his maturity and green old age, 
he brought to our land the benefit of liberal ideas, 
of the lofty conscience and wide outlook he owed to 
your land. Thanks to you he was in France from 
1815 until his death one of the most stalwart pioneers 
of republican and democratic ideas; and it is to him 
we owe in part the republican conquests we have 
made. 

Thus when we recall all these glorious memories 
that seem to mingle the folds of our two flags, we 
can show what two great democracies can do. 

Absolute monarchs imagine they can conquer other 
peoples by the marriages they make and by placing 
on all the thrones of Europe their relatives and rep- 
resentatives. But we drew closer the links that bind 
our hearts together by daily contacts, by daily ex- 
changes of our feelings and our thoughts, by the daily 
mingling of our consciences, by the daily contem- 
plation of our great common liberty. And thus our 
brotherly friendship did not need to be written in 
treaties for it was a living force in our hearts and 
consciences. 

So, in the tragic days that came upon France, in 
those decisive hours not only in its history but in 
the history of the world, it was a comfort and help 
to feel, from the beginning, that the great American 
soul beat in harmony with ours. 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 119 

If we had had our doubts as to the justice of our 
cause we should not have doubted any longer when, 
gazing across the vast expanse of sea, we saw all think- 
ing Americans turning to our side and, so far as they 
could, by their sympathy, by the benefits they show- 
ered on the heads of our dying, our orphans, proving 
to us the ardor of a sympathy which in those tragic 
hours raised and lifted us above our very selves. 

And if from the first you gave us the inestimable 
benefit of your moral support it is because you are a 
great democracy; it is because we are a great 
democracy, because in Europe or in France there are 
freemen who were thus agreed in soul to raise yet 
higher the flag of democracy before the rampart of aa 
autocracy which is tottering to its fall. 

Already with fire and sword, by the valor of our 
children, the strength of our arms, we have passed 
beyond the wall and above it sent the radiance of 
all the ideas of liberty. 

Come to us, American brothers! Come and fight 
side by side with your French brothers, with your 
allied brothers! Come under your glorious banner 
to fight for the democracy of the world and show all 
men that, when the rights of a single nation are 
violated, the rights of all nations are trampled under 
foot. 

In the message of Mr. Wilson, incomparable in its 
grandeur and nobility, which went to the heart of 
hearts of France, and which the government of the 
republic has placarded in every village in France and 
had read and interpreted to all children in the schools. 



120 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

your illustrious President made manifest the ideas of 
America. He expressed them too magnificently for 
me to attempt to express them in turn. 

But when I speak of democratic ideas, when I speak 
of violated rights to be avenged, of the sufferings en- 
dured by those who have fought for liberty and can 
only be repaid by victory, I cannot do better to sym- 
bolize my thoughts, to give them concrete form, than 
raise my glass in honor of the illustrious President of 
the United States. 

It was explained to the audience that the Marshal was a 
soldier and not an orator, but flag-waving auditors yelled 
for him until he finally yielded. In full uniform, he stepped 
to the front of the rostrum, holding a French flag in one 
hand and an American flag in the other and spoke in 
French, waving first one flag and then the other, and 
finally entwining the two. His words were few, but the 
auditors, few of whom understood French, cheered so 
wildly that even the stenographers could not record all he 
said, brief as was his speech. He said, in part: 

My friends, I am proud to have in my hand the 
American flag, which is to the American people what 
the French flag is to the people of France, a symbol 
of liberty. I hold in my other hand the flag of France, 
who has given of her best, her staunchest, and her 
bravest, and which also stands for liberty. I had 
the honor to carry the French flag on the field of 
battle, and I am glad to join the flag of many battles 
to the flag that has never known defeat. With this 
flag I bring to you the salute of the French Army 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 121 

to the American people, our staunch ally in the com- 
mon cause. 

As he joined the two flags when speaking his closing 
words, the whole assembly mounted to their seats and 
cheered passionately. 

Next day there was a reception at the Art Institute and 
later a military parade, when the line of march was so 
jammed with spectators that entrance and exit to big 
office buildings and hotels along the route were shut off 
and all traffic blocked. Luncheon was served at the Uni- 
versity of Chicago. At four o'clock the big public event 
of the visit began in the Amphitheater at the stockyards, 
where many workmen had received a half-holiday. The 
Marshal's conquest of the city had its climax in the demon- 
stration there made. The building fairly rocked with the 
enthusiasm of 17,000 persons, a gi'eat host singing, and hold- 
ing banners. It was like a page from Revelation, said one 
commentator. Remarkable as earlier ovations had been, they 
were eclipsed by this outpouring of sentiment. Cosmopoli- 
tan in the last degree was the audience. At least forty, per- 
haps sixty, racial and national elements were represented. 
It was a "melting-pot-of-the-nations" assemblage. It set 
up a polyglot shout: "Vive Joffre," in forty tongues and 
dialects. In the same way it thundered out the national 
songs, "The Star-Spangled Banner," "The Marseillaise," 
"America." But the song that really lifted the roof was 
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic." 

On the rostrum a figure in bright red trousers and blue 
blouse stood at salute. In him the crowd knew that it saw 
one of the greatest fighters for democracy the world has 
known since the fires of freedom were kindled. Their cries 
of "Joffre!" became surging roars. It was a succession 
of thrills, ecstatic rather than emotional. The tone was 



122 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

one of solemn exaltation. Joffre stood at salute. He was 
poise and repose personified. He was like a statue. Be- 
neath bushy gray eyebrows his light blue eyes sparkled 
though half closed. Occasionally he tugged at his mustache. 

These were the only outward signs of feeling. Now and 
then he leaned toward M. Viviani and they nodded and 
smiled. It was 4:30 when the two men came in and so 
gave the signal for the audience to go wild. Small flags — 
the American and French emblems — were produced, until 
the hall became a raging sea of red, white and blue. It 
was one roar, a Niagara of sound — "Joffre!" 

The May sunlight streamed upon the Marshal between two 
American flags as he stood on the speakers' platform. 
Flanking them were the tricolor, the Union Jack and the 
standards of Russia, Belgium, Italy and France. Over on 
the east wall were banners bearing the Gallic cock, his 
golden crest uplifted in triumph. Off to the left, luminous 
in the sunshine, was a silken banner, with the blue, white 
and red of France, emblazoned with the word "Marne." 
Joffre glanced at it, stroked his mustache and smilingly 
nudged Viviani. The roar was redoubled at this point.^ M. 
Viviani evoked a thunderstorm when introduced. He said: 

I am happy to-day to salute the City of Chicago in 
this assembly, where all classes of society are repre- 
sented. This assembly reminds me of France at the 
moment of the declaration of war in the beginning 
of August, 1914. The Germans had assailed us in a 
brutal attack, hoping, within a short time, to destroy 
France by many barbarous blows. All the French 
people ran to the border. The farmers, the workmen, 
all Frenchmen were at the border. The fight was 

iThe Chicago Herald. 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 123 

hard, but at last we were successful and stopped them 
at the battle of the Marne. 

We were in need of munitions. We were in need 
of ^ns and rifles. We have taken from among the 
ranks of the army workmen to make guns, bullets and 
bombs, and from that time the French army comprised 
those who fight at the front and those who make it 
possible to fight at the front. That is the army at 
the front and the army in the shops and in the fac- 
tories. And it is from the army at the front and the 
army of the shops that I bring to you greeting. 

I want, in the name of France, to take advantage 
of the opportunity to answer one of the greatest 
calumnies against us, that we were fighting to make 
money. Do you think if that were true all your 
brothers would have rushed to the front to fight for 
our flag? Do you think the French laboring men 
and all the working classes would have taken the in- 
terest they did take in the war? All the citizens 
who are ready to fight for justice go to the battlefields 
of liberty. That is where was conceived the greatness 
of Washington. As one of the speakers a few mo- 
ments ago said: ''No man has the right to die for 
himself; no man has the right to live for himself.'* 
He owes his life to liberty and to democracy. Vive 
TAmerique, vive la France! 

When Marshal Joffre rose in acknowledgment he received 
an ovation which lasted seven minutes, during which he stood 
stiffly at salute, with moisture in his eyes. When he com- 
pleted his brief remarks and while the crowd again were 



124 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

cheering madly, his colleagues of the commission embraced 
and congratulated him. 

IN KANSAS CITY 

From Chicago the French mission went to Kansas City 
by night train. Before daybreak next morning the tramp 
of many feet could have been heard on the Union Station 
plaza. The coming of the dawn disclosed there an un- 
broken line of khaki-clad men, standing with arms at 
attention, in a huge circle guarding the main entrance. 
The roll of a drum soon announced the arrival of the vis- 
itors, with M. Viviani walking with Mayor Edwards, Mar- 
shal Joffre with Governor Gardner and Vice-Admiral 
Chocheprat with Governor Capper. The cry from the 
crowd of ''Vive la France^' brought from the visitors the 
response, "Vive VAmerique," first from M. Viviani and 
then from Marshal Joffre and the other visitors. Imme- 
diately after eating a specially prepared breakfast at the 
station, the visitors and members of the reception com- 
mittee proceeded in twenty motor cars on a trip over the 
boulevards, on either running-board of the cars a secret 
service guard. 

Long before the opening of the exercises which pre- 
ceded a reception in Convention Hall, every seat in the 
Auditorium had been occupied. When the appointed hour 
arrived there were seen in the doorway back of the speak- 
ers' stand a group of men, including a heavy-set man in 
a modest blue military coat, the cap of an officer of the 
French army, and red military trousers, Marshal Joffre. 
At once the audience forgot to sing, and a cheer arose 
that drowned completely the music of the band. Flags 
were waved frantically. Lights in the north end of the 
hall flashed the French tricolor on one side, the Stars and 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 125 

Stripes on the other, and a huge French flag was unfurled 
from the ceiling above the guests. When the guests 
reached their places, the cheering crowd began the "Mar- 
seillaise." After Marshal Joffre and the others sat down 
cries of "Vive le marechal de France" "Vive J off re!" came 
from scattered parts of the hall, and immediately the great 
audience arose, shouting and waving flags. A card made 
of gold and bearing an inscription stating that it was a 
gift in commemoration of the visit, was presented by Mayor 
Edwards to M. Viviani, who threw his arms over the 
shoulder of the mayor, kissed him on both cheeks, and then 
addressed the assembled multitude.* Although speaking in 
French, the spirit of M. Viviani's address was caught even 
by those who could not understand the language : 

Here grow the millions of bushels of wheat that 
make you, I will not say the granary of the United 
States, but one of the granaries of the world. And 
I thank you for the assurance that you are ready to 
work for the Allies and for France, for as your mayor 
said in admirable words: ''War is not a matter of 
munitions and cannon alone, but also of provisions 
for those who fight in the line or labor behind it.*' 
And in what terms can I express our joy at seeing 
a town at once so beautiful under the spring sunshine 
and your people welcoming France in our persons. 

Next August three years will have elapsed since we 
stayed the German avalanche that was sweeping over 
French territory. And why have we fought thus? 
Was it to conquer territories? No. For other ends. 
You understand that; you understand it so well that 

*The Kansas City Star. 



126 BALFOUR, VIVIAN! AND JOFFRE 

all your orators are agreed in giving to this holy war 
its full meaning and gravest import. It is not a 
fight between armies, but between peoples, a fight 
for democracy against autocracy. 

The sacred union of the United States and the 
Entente Allies will not be dissolved until German 
imperialism has been destroyed, and the peace of the 
world assured. The United States has not entered the 
war alone to help France, but rather to uphold the 
torch of civilization, and to obtain for the world 
ultimate peace. You free Americans so well under- 
stand why thousands and thousands of our children 
now are sleeping their last. You know it is not 
because there is in our hearts the desire to conquer. 

You will come, not to help France, but to aid the 
cause of civilization. France, bleeding and fighting, 
with many destroyed homes and tombs, has held the 
German flood that now is going back. Come to France, 
you Americans, and help civilization and liberty. It 
is the best way, the only way, to insure the peace of 
the world. 

In what terms can I express our joy at seeing a 
town at once so beautiful under the spring sunshine 
and your people welcoming in our persons France and 
the republic? But beneath that war sun, among all 
the radiance of spring, we Frenchmen would have 
felt a sort of shame in our joy, the shame of being 
thus happy while our land was in mourning and our 
children were shedding their blood, had we not felt on 
what mission we came here, and that the vast crowds 
were thrilled with the thought that they, too, were 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 127 

ready to fight for liberty. I should be unjust to 
the splendor of your faith if I supposed for one 
moment that any individual feeling animated you 
against the German hordes. It is for higher reasons ; 
you enter this war because you are resolved this war 
shall be the last. You said you were ready to give 
your last man to attain that end. It is an oath. 

France is so identified with the liberty of people 
and with civilization that when one looks for liberty 
one sees France. It is she who has upheld the banner 
of liberty. She it was who in the days of the French 
Revolution lit a flame in all hearts and souls. From 
her lips fell the thoughts of freedom that have 
traversed the whole world, to the icy steppes of Russia, 
where the fire of revolution is kindled even now, and 
where we shall shortly see the new government in full 
control of itself and all Russia leading its soldiers to 
battle and its citizens to final deliverance. 

And it is France which, for three long years, has 
fought, wept and bled. She has been trampled under- 
foot by her invaders, but step by step they retreat, 
thanks to the courage of our soldiers and thanks also 
to our brave English allies. Three years has France 
been subjected to this life. Come to her now and 
you will come to the cause of liberty, of civilization. 
There is no better way of making democracy reign 
in the world — democracy, which alone can end all 
wars. 

In our hearts more precious and pure than gold is 
inscribed the memory of what we owe to the United 
States, to free America, our sister republic, which 



128 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

at the call of its illustrious President, Mr. Wilson, has 
risen to a man. We await you. We know we can 
rely on your fidelity and courage. We rest assured 
that you will never desert your great duty. Long 
live the United States ; long live France. 

I will take back to France all of your greetings, 
your flowers, your kisses and your smiles — back to the 
soldiers of France. 

M. Viviani's address was greeted with an outburst of 
applause that subsided only when Marshal Joffre rose to 
speak a few words in acknowledgment of a thunderous 
ovation. Both expressed especial pleasure at such a dem- 
onstration in Kansas City, because it would be from the 
country surrounding that much of the wheat, com, and 
other foodstuffs must come to insure final victory. The 
meeting in Convention Hall had been planned as a memo- 
rial of the Lusitania, sunk on that day, May 7, two years 
before. All creeds were represented. There was a dra- 
matic climax when Rabbi Bernstein, of St. Joseph, Mo., 
declared in his speech: "I am thankful that the time has 
come when I and my brothers, as Jews, may enter this 
war, even as an ally of Russia." 

It could now be seen once more how the man who fired 
the shot at the Lusitania touched off a greater explosion 
than he or Germany had dreamed of. Except for that act, 
and the long series of later aggressions upon our shipping, 
extending over twenty-three months, it is unlikely that the 
American people would have been stirred to a declaration 
of war. Among our citizens were tens of thousands who 
thought war should have followed that act instantly. Balked 
of their desire for the moment, the voices of these were nev- 
er stilled until the consummation they sought had been at- 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 129 

tained. The sinking of the Lusitania arrayed against Ger- 
many a nation of more than 100,000,000 people, admittedly 
the richest in the world, whose earnestness was shown when 
war came, by its eagerness to appropriate, without a dis- 
senting vote, $7,000,000,000 as a first contribution to the 
fund for Germany's defeat. The crime had turned upon the 
Kaiser the wrath of a people inclined to be friendly, robbed 
him at a stroke of the open support of his own people resi- 
dent here and who by birth or parentage were naturally 
devoted to his fortunes. The Lusitania torpedo we now 
can see involved the fate of the German Empire. And 
yet the captain who was responsible for the crime was 
decorated for it, the event itself was celebrated by German 
school children as a holiday, and a medal was struck to 
commemorate the event.* 

One of the moving minor scenes of the day in Kan- 
sas City was a meeting between the Marshal and Emile S. 
Brus, French consul for Kansas City. The two men had 
been fellow soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War; M. Brus 
a first lieutenant. Marshal Joffre then only a second 
lieutenant. They were both at Sedan. While exchanging 
greetings with the Marshal, M. Brus spoke of his birth- 
place, Mazamet, in the Department of Tarn. M. Viviani, 
standing by, caught the words. "Mazamet f" he cried, 
grasping M. Brus's hand. "My dear mother lives there 
now." 

IN ST. LOUIS 

From Kansas City M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre went 
to St. Louis. On the journey across Missouri the visitors 
had an excellent view of the country's agricultural opera- 
tions, as intensified by the war demands for foodstuffs. 
Everywhere were seen signs of activity on farms. Brief 

*The New York Sun. 



130 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

stops were made at Carrolton, Moberly and Mexico, where 
to crowds gathered about the observation platform while 
bands played patriotic tunes, M. Vi\iani and Marshal 
Joffre and other members of the party were presented by 
Breckenridge Long. M. Viviani made brief remarks, tell- 
ing the people how honored he and his colleagues felt at 
the reception accorded them everywhere, and how deeply 
appreciative they were. Marshal Joffre was everywhere the 
center of attraction, and always with cries of "Vive la 
France'^ or "Vive le marechal Joffre." The vociferous wel- 
come everywhere deepened their realization of the willing- 
ness of Americans to take an active part in the war. The 
Middle West was a surprise to them in the intense patriot- 
ism shown at each place they visited. In the crowd at 
Moberly several native Frenchmen who shouted their greet- 
ings in the French language were accorded a hearty response 
with handshakes by the commissioners. 

On arrival in St. Louis at 7:30 o'clock in the evening, 
thej^ received a continuous ovation, though the gathering 
darkness made it difScult for spectators to see faces. The 
crowd in the streets was estimated at 50,000 and probably 
10,000 stood outside the Coliseum, where 20,000 had gath- 
ered for a mass meeting. The crowd was first entertained 
with music, and as each person entered the building, a 
Boy Scout gave him an American and a French flag. As 
the French mission entered, the French national hymn 
was sung, Marshal Joffre holding his hand at salute when 
escorted to the platform.* In presenting a standard of 
colors to the new Fifth Missouri Infantry, he said: 

I present this flag to you. And when I present it 
to you, I need not say it is the symbol of your native 
land. It will lead you into battle. The further you 

* The St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 131 

carry it, the better you must defend it; you must 
sacrifice your lives, one and all, rather than let it 
fall into the hands of the enemy. Perhaps it will 
go to France, there to wave side by side with the flag 
of France, which for three years has led the onset 
against our foes. And when our soldiers see the Star- 
Spangled Banner, their souls will thrill. And I am 
assured it is to final victory both will go. 

M. Viviani's speech follows : 

Ladies and Gentlemen : I wish my voice were pow- 
erful enough, and I wish my words could be expressed 
in your own language, so clear and ringing, so that 
they might reach across this hall and at the same time 
find a way to your hearts. But still, for only a few 
minutes, allow me to voice to-night, not only in my 
name, but in all my countrymen's name, to whom 
you have given such a hearty welcome, a welcome so 
worthy of France, the feelings of emotion and pride 
which are swelling up in our souls. 

We are happy to find ourselves in this great city of 
St. Louis. Amidst your welcome, we shall not forget 
that if to-day living men stand up to escort us, we 
also find here the shades of our ancestors, of the first 
Frenchmen who found themselves in this city. We 
are happy to meet here people of all races, merged 
into the very heart of the fatherland, merged into 
the life of this city, and we know that, whoever they 
may be, they remain unflinchingly faithful to their 
American fatherland in this vast conflict, faithful to 
the country of which, first of all, they are sons. 



132 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

And I am also happy, for my part, to speak here 
under the auspices of Mr. Long, our friend, your rep- 
resentative, and the descendant of that illustrious 
family, one of whom has a statue on one of your 
squares. I am happy to greet the venerable and 
distinguished mother of the assistant secretary of the 
Department of State, who, ever since we landed on 
American soil, has stretched out to us brotherly hands, 
and in whose heart we feel the lo\e he bears to France, 
our fatherland. 

Here, ladies and gentlemen, you have not lost the 
memory of the great historical event which took place 
here a few months ago. It is in this hall, where you 
now sit, that was held the Democratic convention, 
which designated as its presidential candidate your 
illustrious fellow-countrymen, President Wilson. At 
that time his own party and you, ladies, and you 
also, citizens, did not realize that war was so near at 
hand; you were hoping you might long enjoy the 
blessings of peace, and at that very moment you were 
going through the same drama that we, the French 
people, went through three years ago. France, gener- 
ous and pacific France, who had made supreme sacri- 
fices for the peace of the world, who turned toward 
humanity with feelings of love, who had one thought 
only, to bring forth liberty for all nations — this very 
same France was attacked, and then she rose for the 
defense of her honor and of her independence. 

For nearly three years, with her faithful allies, 
but, at the start of the conflict, almost alone, she has 
been struggling breast against breast, hand against 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 133 

hand, weapon against weapon. For close upon three 
years, in the deep trenches, the sons of France held 
in check the enemies who were striving to invade her. 
For close upon three years immortal France, faithful 
at all times to herself, preserving her sacred image 
pure through all storms, the France of to-day, worthy 
of the France of the past, raises the flag which is torn 
by shot and shell, but which is yet held aloft by the 
valiant hands of her soldiers. 

And, a few minutes ago, in that touching ceremony, 
touching as all those earnest and solemn ceremonies 
in which soldiers speak in plain and laconic language, 
but a language which comes from the depth of their 
hearts, when, in the name of the Fifth Regiment of 
St. Louis, one of your officers handed to Marshal 
Joffre the flag which he at once returned with a few 
earnest words, it seemed to me that I was witnessing 
a spectacle comparable to that which I witnessed on 
the soil of France. How often have we seen our gen- 
erals hand over flags to our children? How often 
have we seen our children leave for the hell of the 
fighting line, their heads erect, their hearts full of a 
virile joy, for they knew that they were defending 
their fatherland. All of them, they kept their eyes 
fixed on the flag, on the flag which is the symbol of 
liberty and justice. 

And, just as we were able to preserve the flag from 
any stain, just as our children would rather die where 
they stood than permit that sacred rag to fall to the 
ground, just as we realized that it was the soul of 
the fatherland that was being carried forward in the 



134 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

folds of the tricolor flag, in the same way — because 
all people are one in that — it is the soul of the Amer- 
ican fatherland which shines radiant through the stars 
of the American flag, and Mr. Mayor was right when 
he said that already it is bringing us the promise of 
final victory. To-morrow that flag will be waved on 
the battlefields. 

To-morrow it also will know the glory of conflict. 
Oh, it was never meant to sleep in peace in a hall, to 
be placed over a monument and to feel only the gentle 
breath of a pacific mind. Because it was the symbol 
of a free fatherland, it was meant to face the risks 
of the battlefields, and to return in glory, so that 
you may keep it in a temple high enough and sacred 
enough to pay back the homage which is due to it. 

Au revoir, then, soldiers of the Fifth Eegiment, 
sons of the American fatherland, you who to-morrow, 
clothed in warlike uniform, will bring on the battle- 
field all the courage which you have shown for 140 
years. Au revoir, soldiers of the American fatherland. 
Perhaps you will meet over there across the Atlantic 
Ocean, the sons of the French fatherland, the sons 
of the Allies. All together you will march to the 
fight. And why will you march to the fight? Is it 
in order to rend others, is it to conquer territory, is 
it to wrench away robber hands, a province or a 
city ? No, no. It is not thus we wage war ; we wage 
war for justice, for universal democracy, for right, 
that autocracy may perish, that at last free men 
may draw free breath in the full enjoyment of peace 
and in the pursuit of their labors. 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 135 

Next day there was a breakfast at the Missouri Athletie 
Association, followed by a parade. Thousands left their 
homes early in the day to gain vantage points along the 
route. Many had in mind the second anniversary of the 
sinking of the Lusitania, and regarded the ovation accorded 
the French visitors as a memorial to the victims of that 
first great submarine offense against the United States. At 
the breakfast, where 700 prominent citizens toasted France 
and the United States, gold medals of honor were presented 
to M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre on behalf of the French 
Society of St. Louis. 

AT LINCOLN^S TOMB 

From Washington to Chicago, from Kansas City to St. 
Louis, to the tomb of Lincoln, at Springfield, Illinois, 
thence across Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, to Phila- 
delphia, the trip, begun with some trepidation as to the 
warmth of the reception it might get, had been a triumphal 
progress, amid roars of cheers, seas of flags, demonstra- 
tions of love and faith in the allied cause from beginning 
to end. M. Viviani declared that the Middle West might 
win the war. "It took personal contact," said he, "for 
us to realize the immensity of the Middle West's re- 
sources." "I am a soldier and of few words," said Mar- 
shal Joffre, "but I feel I must speak when greeted with 
such sights as welcomed us to the West. The enthusiasm 
manifested everywhere showed that the Americans fully 
realize the immensity of their task. They are preparing 
for it with the same earnest spirit that actuated peasants 
and citizens of France early in the war." 

Marshal Joffre and M. Viviani at Springfield, with 
bowed and uncovered heads, filed into the tomb of Lincoln 
with the military and civil officials who accompanied them, 



136 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

deposited a wreath and left without a word. At the State 
Capitol an official reception was arranged for them. From 
the moment when the visitors stepped from their train at 
Springfield until they departed, an hour and a half later, 
they were met with cheers and waving tricolors. Soldiers 
who lined the streets stood at attention. Lines of school 
children waved flags and cheered enthusiastically as they 
passed from downtown districts to Oak Ridge Cemetery. 
As their train in leaving drew out of the station, Marshal 
Joffre stooped from the platform and kissed two little girls 
dressed to represent the United States and France. 

On the way East, from Springfield, the train at night 
met with an accident. Investigation near the seene dis- 
closed a broken rail about twenty feet in the rear of the 
wrecked train. Whether the rail was broken by the heavy 
engine that drew the train or as the result of a plot was 
undetermined. Cars hitting the broken rail bumped off 
to the ties, cutting the fishplate bolts which joined the 
rails, thus letting the rails spread and throwing the cars 
off the tracks. The members of the commission, when the 
crash came, were sitting in the luxuriously appointed din- 
ing-car, bedecked with flowers. Amid flying food and 
flowers. Marshal Joffre grasped the window ledge and re- 
mained unperturbed. When the jolting cars finally came 
to a stop, awry on the track, he a^-ose, assured himself that 
there were no casualties and quietly picking his way out 
of the wreckage, plodded back to his stateroom in the ob- 
servation car, where he sat in stolid calm, av/aiting relief 
from the unpleasant situation. M. Viviani climbed the 
wreckage and waded through mud and weeds to examine the 
debris, his stocky figure plodding in the pale moonlight, 
along with trainmen in overalls swinging lanterns. M. 
Hovelaque, his square black beard wagging as he talked, 
argued enthusiastically with the conductor. The fears of 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 137 

the two French orderlies and Marshal Joffre's valet were 
quieted when the Secret Service chief tossed them a pack 
of cards. After that they sat in the half -wrecked car, quiet- 
ly playing amid the excitement. 

IN PHILADELPHIA 

On May 9 in Philadelphia M. Viviani hailed Inde- 
pendence Hall, in which he then stood, as the "birthplace of 
the liberty of the world." He and Marshal Joffre had been 
escorted from the Broad Street station through flag-draped 
and closely-packed lanes of cheering humanity to the room 
where the Declaration was signed. They afterwards stood 
in silence for a moment before the Liberty Bell, where 
Marshal Joffre tiptoed forward and kissed the bell and 
M. Viviani followed him, each doing so without a word or 
a cheer coming from the crowd that surrounded them. 
When M. Viviani shook Mayor Smith's hand he implanted 
a kiss upon his cheek. 

Before leaving the building Marshal Joffre was pre- 
sented with a silver-mounted marshal's baton, made from 
wood taken out of a rafter in the roof of the Hall. He 
returned thanks in a low, unemphatic, almost inaudible 
voice. "I thank you," he said. "In this Hall of Inde- 
pendence where true liberty was first proclaimed, I wish 
to convey to the people of Philadelphia and of the United 
States the gTeetings of the French army and the grati- 
tude of the people of France to America for its fidelity 
to the allied cause." Turning to M. Viviani, he jokingly 
remarked : "See, I have now a piece of real independence." 

After a brief stop at the recruiting station in the Hall, 
the party was taken in automobiles to other historic places 
in Philadelphia. At Christ Church, where Washington 
worshiped, they rose in their places saluting. Before 



138 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the Betsy Ross House, where the first flag was made, they 
also stood at salute. On the stone slab above the grave of 
Benjamin Franklin a memorial wreath was placed. They 
were then taken through Fairmount Park, where they 
paused to salute the statue of Joan of Are. In the house 
of William Penn, a sword was presented to Marshal Joffre. 
Twenty children from each grammar school and an equal 
number from high schools, with deputations from subur- 
ban schools, were present. The presentation was made by 
a young lady who spoke in French. At the conclusion of 
her speech Marshal Joffre replied: 

Mademoiselle, the honor of this gift is particularly 
dear to me because it is an honor conferred on me 
in the place where American independence was born, 
and I am here as a representative of that other great 
democracy. But above all, what gives me the deepest 
pleasure and touches me most closely is that this gift 
is a present from the people. "Will you permit me to 
give you a kiss and the handclasp of France. 

Amid cheers for France Marshal Joffre stooped and 
kissed the young lady, French fashion, on each cheek, a 
salute which she quickly returned. The sword was made 
of pure gold and the finest steel, hand-chased, jewel mount- 
ed, and inscribed, "To a Soldier of Freedom." On the 
guard, in jewels, were the arms of the Republic of France. 
Marshal Joffre and M. Viviani were acclaimed by over 
500,000 Philadelphians. The same afternoon they departed 
for New York. 

THE ITALIANS IN THE SOUTH AND VTEST 

The Italian mission, its work in Washington completed, 
left on June 12 for a ten days* tour of the country. The 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 139 

Prince of Udine, however, had to remain in Washington, 
because of an illness which had already caused a post- 
ponement of the trip, but he expected to be able to join 
the party when it arrived in New York in the following 
week. The first stops were made at Atlanta and Birming- 
ham. Other cities visited, in the order named, were: 
New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Burlington, la., Chicago, 
Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and New York. The 
Government provided a special train for the tour. One 
of the most enthusiastic receptions which the Italian Com- 
mission had occurred at the Chicago Stock Yards. After a 
luncheon at the Saddle Sirloin Club, brief speeches were 
made. One of these was by the Marquis Luigi Borsarelli, 
who regretted that he had chosen the diplomatic field for 
his life's vocation, "especially when able to see and admire 
the results you have achieved here." If he had another life 
to live he "would choose the occupation which you follow 
rather than my own." The luncheon was followed by a 
drive over the city, during which the commission placed a 
wreath on the statue of Lincoln in Lincoln Park. A formal 
dinner concluded the entertainment. Guglielmo Marconi, 
the principal speaker at the dinner, said: 

Among all the nations at war Italy is silently taking 
the greatest strain and the greatest privation. Only 
when the kind of war Italy is fighting becomes fully 
known will the world realize what sacrifices the army 
and the people of Italy have accomplished. 

For more than two years Italy has had an army of 
more than 3,000,000 men. It is now approaching 
4,000,000. You must bear in mind that her popula- 
tion is a little over 37,000,000 — about one-third that 
of the United States. If America were to make an 



140 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

equal sacrifice she would have to maintain under arms 
for more than two years about 12,000,000 men, and 
even then her effort would not be equal to ours, for 
the wealth of the United States is incomparably 
greater than that of Italy. To feel an equal strain 
America would have to fling at least $30,000,000,000 
into the furnace of war. 

IN PHILADELPHIA 

The Italians reached Philadelphia on June 20, and for 
thirteen hours the city rang with its welcome to 
them. Women cried like babies as they shouted "vivas" 
in trembling voices, while men roared until the 
entire scene was a bedlam. Broad Street was choked by 
an immense throng that was estimated as high as 100,000. 
There was not a square inch of the thoroughfare unpopu- 
lated from the middle of the street up to the buildings. 
Italian districts had been deserted to make a holiday and 
pour out lavish greetings to Signor Marconi and other coun- 
trymen from beyond the seas. They came from store, shop, 
tenement and bank, a picturesque multitude. When the com- 
mission arrived at the station, as the noise of cheering 
inside reached the massed multitude outside, spontaneous 
shouts made a roar hardly describable. As the parade 
started and swung past the City Hall the ovation grew and 
grew in intensity. Thousands from the Italian sections 
had jammed their way there, and it seemed as if each 
person had either the flag of Italy or the Stars and Stripes 
in his hand. Dozens of societies stood at attention as their 
countrymen rolled by. Each organization had a huge 
American and Italian flag. The sight of these standards 
towering high above the crowd and running in numbers 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 141 

literally into the hundreds, made a veritable forest of wav- 
ing, dancing", blurred colors that was kaleidoscopic. 

Time and again in response to a demonstration Signer 
Marconi was compelled to stand in his car and bow to the 
plaudits. The sight of this trim, dapper inventor, in the 
uniform of a sailor, set thousands into wild outbursts of 
cheering. Women held up their babies for him to pat, and 
he did so as he passed along in triumphal progress. Finally 
the cars bored their way through the human jam to the 
hotel. Sons of Italy, parading under the names of scores 
of societies, marched past, cheering like mad and throwing 
their hats into the air in an exuberance that no Anglo- 
Saxons could duplicate or even approach. Streets on both 
sides were black with people, while the crowd overflowed 
into side streets, and piled up into the lobbies and upon 
the steps of the hotels. In gaudy sashes and brilliant uni- 
forms, the organizations marched past. "Little Italy," from 
the mother who doddled a wee "bambino" at her side, to 
the aged and tottering grandfather, was all represented in 
the vast multitude with its roars and explosive adulations. 

Later in the day twenty thousand persons gathered about 
the Columbus and Verdi statues in Fairmount Park to 
see wreaths placed on the statues. The occasion was made 
the greatest outdoor demonstration of the day. In front 
of the Columbus statue the Commissioners were presented 
with a purse of more than $50,000 for the Italian Red 
Cross Society, "as an expression of the affection Phil- 
adelphia's 200,000 Italian-born citizens still hold for the 
mother country." 

At a banquet that evening which the city officially 
tendered to the mission, Italian citizens were said to have 
subscribed 200,000 lire, or almost $40,000, which they en- 
trusted to Signor Arlotta to present to the Prince of Udine, 
to take back to Italy, for distribution to widows and orphans 



142 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

of soldiers who had fallen in defense of their country. 
The gift, enclosed in a handsome silver casket, was pre- 
sented while the banquet hall rang with cheers and plaudits. 
Amid a silence that was dramatic, the envoys were made 
to hear the voice of the Liberty Bell through a proxy call. 
Leaders in various city activities listened with as keen a 
relish as the envoys. All were visibly affected. The Mayor 
in welcoming the envoys, told of the common brotherhood 
that existed between the United States and Italy, through 
the common warfare which they were waging. Signor 
Marconi, speaking in English, recited graphically con- 
ditions as they exist in Italy. He spoke about the short- 
age of coal, as marking a grave situation, and one that 
must be remedied if Italy's efficiency as an ally is to 
be unimpaired. Signor Arlotta, who spoke in Italian, 
dwelt on the heroic sacrifices and the tremendous fight- 
ing which Italy had contributed as her share in the war. 
He declared the purpose of his country in this conflict to be 
to free it from the rule and domination of Austria. 

Fifty thousand persons next morning jammed the side- 
walks during a pilgrimage made by the envoys to Inde- 
pendence Hall — a multitude not less exuberant and en- 
thusiastic than the throng which greeted them on their 
arrival. Independence Hall was surrounded on all sides 
by a dense crowd, as on the occasion of M. Viviani's and 
Marshal Joffre's visit. The majority were Italians, who 
welcomed the envoys with ear-splitting noises. Mayor 
Smith escorted them to the comer where the Liberty Bell 
stands. Signor Arlotta and his associates, including Signor 
Marconi, touched the bell with reverence. The Marquis 
Borsarelli inquired how the crack came into the bell and 
traced with his gloved finger the date of the bell, while 
he plied the Mayor with questions. 

Then came an outstanding dramatic incident. When the 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 143 

party reached the pavement outside, the Italian consul 
was seen escorting two diminutive figures, dressed in sever- 
est mourning, a man and a woman, who were Mr. and Mrs. 
Gaetano del Gatto, parents of Luigi del Gatto, who had 
lost his life at the battle of Loxvica on September 14, 1916. 
Luigi, though born in the Abruzzi, had come to this coun- 
try with his parents. He was in Boston when Italy entered 
the war, but immediately returned to Italy and joined the 
army commanded by the Due d'Aosta. The Italian consul 
murmured a few words as to these circumstances to Signor 
Arlotta, who instantly hooked his arms into those of the 
del Gattos, backed with them to the steps of Independence 
Hall and shouted in Italian to the crowd to gather closely 
around him. The consul then read a letter from the Due 
d'Aosta extolling the deeds of Luigi. Signor Arlotta ad- 
dressed his parents in Italian, and General Gugielmotti after 
he had smartly saluted, pinned a medal upon the breast of 
Luigi's father, threw his arms about his neck and im- 
planted a smack on his right cheek. While del Gatto's 
wife stood weeping softly beside him, but trying to smile 
through her tears, del Gatto excited the Italians to a 
great outburst by a speech with which he accepted this 
tribute to his son.* With his finger pointed toward Heaven, 
he said, in a voice that carried to the outer edges of the 
multitude : 

I am overjoyed to learn that my son was willing 
to die for his country, and I am glad that I could 
give him willingly for the holy cause of liberty. I 
am sad that he is dead, but in my sadness I am glad 
that he died like a hero, and that these nobles from my 
country have given him such a tribute. I know, as 

*The Philadelphia Public Ledger. 



144 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

a father who has given his son to war, that with the 
United States and Italy joined as allies the war will 
be won, and those who want to crush liberty will be 
crushed themselves. 

The din that was aroused by this patriotic speech 'W'as 
terrific. With the incident closed, the visitors proceeded 
into and along Market Street, and when in front of the 
Wanamaker store came upon a girls' battalion armed with 
rifles and in natty vivandiere costumes, drawn up on one 
side, with boy cadets on the other, stalwart youngsters in 
Highland costume, with bagpipes. Bands joined in a 
medley of Italian and American patriotic melodies. 

The guests were then entertained at a reception and 
luncheon at the Manufacturers' Club, where the final stop 
of the day was made. The lobby blazed with the colors 
of both nations, while a gigantic Italian flag in red, green, 
and white incandescent lights shone at the end. The 
bright particular star at the luncheon was Giannini, a 
former grand opera singer, who was now the proprietor 
of a restaurant in Philadelphia, and who in a rich bari- 
tone sang "0 Sole Mia." Signor Marconi and Signor Arlotta 
were gracious in their thanks for the hospitality and the wel- 
come which they had received. In conclusion Signor Arlotta 
proposed a toast to "Democracy, Justice and Liberty," which 
all drank amid "vivas" and deep-throated cheering. "Your 
Liberty Bell," said Signor Arlotta, "does not need to pro- 
claim liberty again in America, for America is full to over- 
flowing with liberty now. But we hope that after this war 
ends the Liberty Bell will again sound the tocsin for lib- 
erty throughout the whole world." 

At the departure of the envoys the Reading Terminal 
was decorated lavishly with flags of both nations. A po- 
lice band sped them away in a crash of cymbals. As their 



I 



IN THE WEST AND SOUTH 145 

special train slowly pulled out of the station they stood on 
the observation platform waving tiny American flags, and 
dashing tears from their eyes as the din of their farewell 
reechoed through the grimy, smoke-stained trainshed of 
the terminal. The mighty tumult that prevailed, in reality 
a sort of roaring explosion, manifestly had stirred the en- 
voys to the depths. They carried away with them an urgent 
plea from Mayor Smith that, when peace came to bind up 
a world then torn asunder, the pact would be signed in 
Independence Hall/ 

THE BELGIANS IN THE WEST AND FAR WEST 

By the end of June, the Belgian Mission had arranged a 
trip through the interior states, extending to the Pacific 
Coast. Invitations had been received from scores of 
cities. The tour of the Belgians was the most elaborate of 
all those made by foreign visitors. They proceeded to the 
Pacific Coast at Seattle by way of Chicago, Milwaukee, 
St. Paul and Minneapolis, and thence went to Portland and 
San Francisco, returning by way of Los Angeles, Salt 
Lake City, Colorado Springs, Denver, Louisville and Cin- 
cinnati to Washington. Some of the features of the en- 
tertainments offered were designed to give a demonstra- 
tion of the democracy of the country. At St. Paul, for 
example, the Commission was introduced to democracy 
on July 4 through an old-fashioned American picnic. The 
distinguished visitors were offered lemonade in tin cups 
and buttermilk in sanitary paper cups. Each commissioner, 
as well as every one else on the grounds, received a pack- 
age of popcorn free. 

Archbishop Ireland, in St. Paul, moved members of the 
Commission to a spontaneous demonstration of affection, 

»The Philadelphia Public Ledger. 



146 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

after he had expressed his belief that the flag of the United 
States "would not be withdrawn from the battlefields of 
Europe until the suffering people of Belgium had been 
restored to their homes." "If need be," he said, "the 100,- 
000,000 people of the United States are ready to lay down 
their lives for the cause of humanity and the restoration of 
the rights of these devastated people." General Leclercq, of 
the Commission, broke down when he undertook to make a 
response. Being unable to express himself in words, he 
stepped over to the archbishop and embraced him warmly. 
Several thousand spectators, similarly affected, turned their 
heads away. For a time the meeting was halted while the 
Belgians gathered around the archbishop to express their 
gratitude. 



IV 

VISITS TO NEW YORK 

M. VIVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFPRE AT THE BATTERY AND IN 
BROADWAY 

New York welcomed M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre on 
the afternoon of May 9 as no other men had ever been 
greeted on Manhattan Island, with shouts, many flags, and 
tears. All the poise and indifference in which the city 
commonly wrapped itself was put aside as it held out eager 
arms of welcome. Men laughed and sobbed at once when 
the simple, gentle-visaged Marshal of France rode through 
the streets. In him they saw France herself as the fighter 
of many stem and desperate battles, a strong, unassum- 
ing democrat, still cheerful though weary under the burden 
of three martial years. Streets running north and south, 
east and west, were filled with the roar of probably a mil- 
lion voices and the color of thousands of banners. 

About Pier A, where the visitors landed, a court of 
honor had been set up, composed of white and gilt posts, 
roped together with evergreens and bearing medallion heads 
of Britannia and La France, designed by Edwin H. Blash- 
field. Within this Court had waited the automobiles of 
the reception committee, the chairman of which was Joseph 
H. Choate. A squadron of mounted police hemmed them 
in. Beyond was Squadron A drawn up as a guard of 
honor. Back of the court, held in check by hundreds of 
policemen, were twenty thousand persons. When the red 

147 



148 BALFOUR, YIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

cap of the Marshal was first seen at the doorway of the 
pier, the voice of New York spoke for the first time, not 
in distinct cheering, but as a solid, mounting roar that 
swelled and ebbed like surf in a great storm. Automobile 
horns and the bugles of cavalry only now and then were 
able to pierce the din. Not until three hours later when 
the doors of the Henry C. Frick mansion on Fifth Avenue 
at Seventieth Street closed upon the visitor for the night, 
did the cry of greeting die away. 

When the long line of automobiles began to move from 
the Battery to Broadway, they had to make their way be- 
tween packed and cheering thousands. Before them clat- 
tered the hoofs of the horses of mounted police and 
Squadron A. Never could the police entirely control 
the crowd. At times it broke through like a river in flood. 
Men and boys waved small flags, tossed hats in the air, 
screamed until their voices cracked. Above all on the 
high walls of buildings flags waved in the breeze — the 
Stars and Stripes, the Union Jack, the Tricolor. From 
side to side of the canon-like thoroughfare filaments floated 
like strands of spider^s web and snow seemed to fall from 
roofs, effects produced by rolls of ticker tape, and showers 
of confetti. Voices often became shrill from overexertion. 
Some of them could still pierce through the deep roar, but 
they were like the squealings of fifes. In the first automo- 
bile were Marshal Joffre, M. Viviani and Mr. Choate.* 

Marshal Joffre was not bronzed, as one might have ex- 
pected of a soldier who had spent almost three years in 
the field. In contrast with General Leonard Wood and the 
American officers who stood with him, he was pink and 
white. Instead of showing a shock of all white hair, white 
eyebrows and military white mustache, as indicated by some 

*The New York Tribune. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 149 

of the photographs, the victor of the Mame was still blond 
and fresh. His thick light yellow hair had some white 
streaks in it and so had his mustache, but the predominant 
note was the pale gold one associates with Scandinavians. 
He was from the south of France, racially a Basque. 
Once during the ceremonies at the City Hall was he seen 
to smile, but seldom during his ride through the streets. 
When the smile came it was as a quick breaking of a some- 
what troubled countenance — like sunshine piercing bril- 
liantly through an overcast sky. Neither his sixty-five 
years nor the burden he had carried so long had aged 
him or slowed his step.* In his face there still lingered 
something of the boy. It was the face of a puzzled and 
embarrassed boy as he heard the cheering that greeted 
him, constant, roaring cheers, not only in lower Broadway 
and in the City Hall, but later all the way northward, past 
the Lafayette Statue in Union Square, and up Fifth Ave- 
nue to the Frick mansion, where at dinner that night he 
chatted about war with Theodore Roosevelt. It was often 
noted that when the roar of cheers was greatest the im- 
perturbable Marshal was calmly looking up at skyscrapers. 
He seemed to be counting the stories. Once he was heard 
to say "Vingt-et-un." 

At 3 :45 — or about the time when crowds were beginning 
to gather in lower Broadway and the Battery — the police 
had started to clear all sightseers out of the City Hall 
Plaza, preliminary to the coming of the several organiza- 
tions that had been accorded a place in the ceremony of wel- 
come. First to arrive were the Old Guard, headed by former 
Mayor Adolph L. Kline. Meanwhile, the crowd, thinned 
earlier in the afternoon by a shower, had reassembled in 
greater masses, undeterred by a chill wind and threatening 

* The New York World. 



150 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

clouds. All business had been suspended. People wbo 
managed to edge their way into the crowd had to stand 
where they were, helpless to move forward or back. Below 
the park every window of the Post-Office Building was 
crowded, and so were the roofs of low buildings on the 
west side of Broadway. Dozens of men were seen on the 
roofs of street cars standing in Park Row, in the windows 
of buildings that rose far into the sky along Park Row 
and Nassau Street. In the massive Woolworth Build- 
ing that shut off half the western sky were clusters of 
people in every window. 

IN THE CITY HALL 

After word came that M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre had 
landed at the Battery, cheers were heard rolling up Broad- 
way. As they came nearer, swarms about the park edged 
in closer only to be pushed back by the police, little knots 
in windows leaned out further, men on the street-car roofs 
risked tumbling as they craned their necks for a first sight 
of the man who won at the Marne. First to be seen were 
the hats and bare sabers of Squadron A, halting at the 
entrance to the park to salute as the \dsitors went past. 
As a troop of mounted police galloped into the Plaza, the 
Seventh Regiment band struck up the "Marseillaise." On 
the heels of the police came the ear in which was Marshal 
Joffre. The crowd needed only the sight of his red cap 
to shout and cheer. Cries that rose from the enclosing 
walls of skyscrapers came back in redoubled echoes. Mr. 
Choate and M. Viviani got out first, then Marshal Joffre. 
The red cap, the fluttering blue-gray cape that gave a 
glimpse of red trousers, were signals enough; cheers broke 
forth, wave after wave, rising in greater volume and last- 
ing until the whole automobile party had climbed the steps 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 151 

and passed into the building. On the steps stood men of 
the Old Guard, sabers at salute, and wearing their great 
bearskins, reminiscent of another Old Guard that had 
fought a hundred years before under another great soldier 
of France. To the left and right were members of the 
Veteran Corps of Artillery. Inside the lobby gleamed 
patent leather shakoes and white duck trousers on members 
of the Society of the War of 1812, and the buff and blue 
of the Sons of the Revolution, whose forefathers had 
greeted Frenchmen on the same spot. 

Through lines of officers, with swords at salute, the vis- 
itors strode up the central stairway and turned into the 
Governor's room, the southern end of which had been 
cleared for their reception. There Mayor Mitchel, General 
Wood, General Bell, Admiral Usher and civilian members 
of the Mayor's Committee had gathered to receive the vis- 
itors. In the little gallery was another throng. With 
policemen keeping men back the Commissioners were taken 
to a dais in the Aldermanic Chamber, where the pale 
green and white walls of the rooms had given place to a 
background of evergreens with two pillars, draped one 
with the colors of Great Britain, the other with those of 
France, on either side of a cross piece from which the 
American flag hung above the heads of the visitors. M. 
Viviani stood in the center. Marshal Joffre on the right, 
and Vice Admiral Chocheprat on his left. To the right of 
the Marshal stood Lieut. Colonel Fabry, his chief of staff, 
and other members of the Commission. It was with diffi- 
culty that the buzzing, eager crowd was made quiet so 
that Mayor Mitchel could speak his words of welcome. 

The crowd could not long listen to Mayor Mitchel in 
silence. Cheers first broke out when he mentioned, "Our 
gallant ally and historic friend, the French Republic." 
Loud shouts of "Vive la France I" c^me through bursts of 



152 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

hand-clapping. There was renewed applause at mention 
of M. Viviani. The crowd, however, did not really let 
itself go until the Mayor said: "We rejoice to hail the 
gTeat Marshal of France." There was now prolonged ap- 
plause, during which the Marshal saluted impassively. 
It broke out again when the Mayor spoke of the Mame, 
and still again when he called Marshal Joffre "the savior 
of civilization and democracy." Cheers also were given 
for Admiral Choeheprat and Marquis de Chambrun, and 
still louder applause at mention of Lafayette. The refer- 
ence to France in the latter part of the Mayor's remarks 
was interrupted after almost every phrase. It was with 
difficulty that the enthusiasm was stilled enough to permit 
the Mayor to say: "Gentlemen, I present to you the Hon. 
Joseph H. Choate, who will speak for the citizens of New 
York." Mr. Choate spoke more rapidly and passionately 
than usual. His reference to Lafayette evoked a great 
burst of cheering, followed by other bursts and still others 
as he praised the accomplishments of France in this war. 
The cheering that interrupted Mayor Mitchel and Mr. 
Choate was as nothing to the outburst that came when the 
Mayor presented M. Viviani. All over the room silk hats 
were waved wildly, stolid white-haired men shouted agaiu 
and again until he began to speak. All through the earlier 
part of the exercises he had stood impassive, almost inert, 
save that now and then he passed a hand nervously across 
his forehead. He began in a rather constrained manner, 
but before long was pouring out such a burst of oratory 
as his hearers, of more reserved race, were not accustomed 
to hear. Many did not understand French, but there were 
enough who did to secure breaks into spontaneous cheering 
again and again. It was the achievement of M. Viviani 
that he gave a new and wholly spontaneous turn to the 
occasion and to the temper of his audience. As he referred 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 153 

to the army and navy he laid his hand first on the shoulder 
of Marshal Joffre, then on that of Admiral Chocheprat : * 

Gentlemen, at last we have reached the shores of 
this great city, whose splendor had already been 
described to us and had attracted us. In my own 
name, and in the name of my fellow countrymen, I am 
compelled to admit that, in contrast with what usually 
happens in life, our expectations have been greatly 
surpassed by the realities. Your eminent statesman, 
Ambassador of his country to foreign lands, whose 
words I am happy to hear among you, has just said 
that he could find no proper language to express what 
America owes to France. If you, after such a welcome 
as you have given us, can find no words, how shall I 
who, with my fellow-countrymen, have received this 
welcome, elevate my speech to the level of the magnifi- 
cent achievements which you have accomplished ? 

We are at last arrived in this hall in which Mayor 
Mitchel has received us with such great kindness in 
the name of the great city which he governs. He has 
been kind enough to say words — gracious and weighty 
at once — which have gone deep into our hearts and 
into our minds. I thank him for having introduced 
us to this Municipal Government, which I salute, to 
the Senior General, to the General commanding the 
troops of the East, to the Admiral commanding the 
fleet at New York. As you very aptly said, you have 
gathered in this magnificent hall, not only the citizens, 
not only the members of the municipality, but also 
the soldiers, the Army and the Navy Commanders, 

» The New York Times. 



154 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

thus showing that at the present time we need not 
only think but act. The efficiency of your magnifi- 
cent administration was known to us even before we 
thought of visiting this wonderful city. We knew how 
this municipality, which governs a population that 
some kingdoms in Europe do not possess, has 
organized this vast harbor, of which it is so justly 
proud — from which port the warships have left and 
from which ships will leave now decorated with tri- 
colored flags, showing the way in triumph and glory. 
When we reached your shores we admired the Statue 
of Liberty, which we have so often beheld in pictures 
and which now throws its light upon the whole world. 

May you be thanked, Mr. Mayor, and you also, Mr. 
Choate, for these words you have said. It is not us 
you welcome ; it is not to us these words are directed. 
Through our persons they go to France, and we need 
not say that we shall faithfully repeat them, not only 
because they are gracious words dictated by interna- 
tional courtesy, but also because they are powerful 
and earnest words, which have, if I may say so, all 
the beauty and richness of a bronze medal. You 
were right when you dwelt on the wonderful spectacle 
which France has given to the world for three years. 
You were right when you said that the blood of 
France is flowing like water. From the open wounds 
of our soldiers has flown the pure red blood of France. 
It has flooded our plains in the very spots where 
formerly our farmers and our workmen were living 
at peace. 

And why does the invader so pollute our soil ? We 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 155 

are a pacific nation, as pacific as yourselves, but you 
have seen for yourselves how easy it was to remain 
faithful to dreams of universal peace. You cherished 
such dreams. You were a great people, with only one 
thought — humanity and justice. We were a free 
democracy and we had only one thought — universal 
right and humanity. But German aggression was 
thrust upon us. We were compelled to rise in arms, 
and now we fight — we fight for our territory, for our 
wealth, for our historical traditions — in order that 
the invader may not take another step on our sacred 
soil. France fights for the world — for justice, for 
humanity — and it is because she fights for that that 
at last the American people have risen to give France 
and her allies her moral and material aid. 

You have said that sympathy was not sufficient. We 
are aware of the sympathy with which for one hun- 
dred and forty years you have cheered the heart of 
France. We knew that you would not be forgetful 
nor ungrateful, and just as on your public squares 
you have erected statues of Lafayette you carry his 
memory in your heart. We knew that a great free 
people, proud of its traditions and its history, vener- 
ated the memory of a foreign General who, in the 
birth throes of its independence, brought it the help 
of French courage and genius. Since the beginning 
of the war we have received proof of your sympathy 
in numerous and most generous forms. We have re- 
ceived innumerable proofs of your fraternal affection 
in the many charitable gifts which our orphans and 
our wounded have received. You felt it was not suffi- 



156 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

cient to stand by and admire only our devotion. 

I fully understand how you faltered in the face of 
the awful duty that confronted you. For war has its 
dangers and its horrors, its moaning widows, its prema- 
ture deaths, and casts a blight on the mothers of 
infants who are our hope and joy and who know 
only woe and calamity. War is a horrible thing, but 
could there be anything more terrible for people than 
to live without honor or independence? Just as you 
were unwilling to allow your national honor to be 
humiliated under the insolent threats and mandates 
of Germany, we were unwilling to submit to break 
our oaths. When we look back into the events of the 
last three years, you have seen small peoples op- 
pressed and great nations like Russia, England, 
France, and Italy rush to the defense of the rights 
of mankind in order to save from the wreck some 
portion of their national honor. You have felt the 
revolt of your consciences from the first hour when 
German aggression struck at your brothers, and it 
was then an easy matter for those who had witnessed 
the evolution of American feeling to foresee what 
would happen and what has actually happened since. 

All America has risen in arms. We have just 
visited the Middle West. We have just seen what 
enthusiasm has arisen among the men, the women, 
and the children of those regions. 

We have found everywhere, even in those very 
places where we had been told we would not find it, 
the virile resolution of a whole people acclaiming 
our message, and we find it here again in these streets 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 157 

of New York, this great city where millions of men 
surge like waves of the sea. This, then, is what is in 
store for us in this city. We have received a brotherly 
welcome which has gone deep into our hearts. You 
may rest assured that we shall not forget it, and from 
the height on which I stand, across the distance which 
separates us from France, allow me to bow to this 
country. 

Allow me to pay a tribute to this country, allow me 
to thank you for the unforgettable welcome we have 
received at your hands. France, to whom all is due, 
who has suffered all things, borne all things except 
shame, except humiliation; France, who would not 
kneel before the forces which thought so easily to 
overcome her, fought for the common right of hu- 
manity, for justice, and it was the people of France, 
as a whole, not only the army, but a democracy in 
arms, all her children, who rose up to defend her. 

We are going back to our country, bringing from 
here all that moral encouragement and material aid 
which will steel our souls, give strength to our pur- 
pose, and hearten our people. We shall tell our fellow- 
countrymen that millions upon millions of voices have 
acclaimed the holy name of France, that none may 
doubt how much we respect the love, the veneration 
which America has for that great moral country which 
is called the French nation. Yes, we shall tell them 
that and more. 

Finally let me say — and it is with difficulty that I 
find my words, for I have nearly come to the limit of 
human effort — let me merely say that we over there 



158 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

are unanimous, that we have no division, no classes, 
no differences of religion or of opinion. All together 
we fight for the same flag, ready to die if need be, but 
above all always ready to save France. 

I cannot do better in order to symbolize this union 
of the French and American people than to appear 
before you side by side with Marshal Joffre. It is 
indeed pleasing to me in this by no means foreign 
land, in this friendly land bound by so many ties to 
France, to thank the French army for the heroic 
manner it has fought, for the great deeds it has done. 
That army at the outset of the war had to give way 
materially before the most formidable onslaught that 
the history of man has ever recorded, but came back 
and hurled itself upon the invader. Yes, they threw 
themselves into the fray, those youths in their teens, 
their eyes aflame and their hearts, going into battle, 
going to death, but going for the country, for civiliza- 
tion, for mankind. 

And who led them — who with clear eye and cool 
head, calm, confident, and efficient, organized the re- 
sistance to the enemy? I need not tell you his name. 
I need but to recall the Marne. And at the same time 
our sailors on the ocean, like Admiral de Grasse, who 
came with Roehambeau, revered, as you know, in the 
name of France. Our sailors by night and by day 
alert, silent and watchful — our sailors who after being 
sent to fight in the trenches of Ypres — fought again 
on the waters of the Adriatic under the orders of the 
brave officer who is standing at my right, Admiral 
Chocheprat. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 159 

Our army is our nation in arms. It is democracy 
in arms for its honor and independence. You will 
say — you also — that you have seen that wonderful 
sight of democracy which has known how to organize 
its forces, how to marshal its strength. A democracy 
which has not awaited the hour of danger, which, like 
our own, had its army, its leaders, its chiefs, and 
which, thanks to what it had done, was able to hold 
its own. 

As I was on my way here I heard the crowd ac- 
claiming those who accompanied me, and who wear 
the uniform like Marshal Joffre, as the saviors of the 
world. Yes, the soldiers of the Marne are the saviors 
of the world. But if we had not had conscription, if 
there had not been the men to answer the call of 
mobilization, what would have befallen our country 
by its courage, its enthusiasm, its valor? There citi- 
zens, you have that great and grave legend taught 
by the war. 

I have already said and I repeat it, I am not mis- 
informed. This has all been understood. So long 
as there is in the world a warlike Germany, so long 
as there is a nation of prey, a country bent on oppres- 
sion, on treachery and violence, so long will democ- 
racies be imperiled. If they would save the treasures 
of civilization and the heritage of mankind which are 
theirs they must meet the danger, they must be ready, 
they must arm themselves, but with the purpose never 
to place the sword at the service of aught but the 
right. 



160 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Long and continuous was the applause that followed 
M. Viviani when he had closed his speech. When it died 
away, Mayor Mitchel said : "Gentlemen, I now present to 
you the great Marshal of France, who stopped them at the 
Mame." Silk hats went into the air again, the cheering 
resounding with deafening force. Marshal Joffre had 
stood through all the previous ceremonies in Olympian 
serenity; nothing about him moved except his eyes, rest- 
lessly flashing this way and that under jutting gray eye- 
brows. With his calm still unruffled, he saluted the audi- 
ence. Not content with salutes, they cheered continuously, 
louder and louder, until he suddenly broke into a childlike 
smile of amazing sweetness and kissed his hand to every 
part of the room. 

There was a sort of informal reception after that, with 
everybody pressing forward to shake hands with the Com- 
missioners, who afterward made a bnef tour of the City 
Hall, and then passed out between double lines of saluting 
swords to the automobiles in waiting, where the crowd still 
lingered, massed about the Park, clinging to the roofs of 
street cars, and blocking every window in the skyscraper 
walls. Bands again burst into the "Marseillaise" and chil- 
dren began to sing it, as the long line of automobiles were 
slowly filled and driven out of the eastern end of the park, 
to begin the long journey northward to the Henry C. Frick 
mansion, passing on the way the Lafayette Statue in 
Union Square, which had been pro-sdded with an elaborate 
setting of evergreen hedge, colored columns and flags of 
France and the United States. When all the automobiles 
had passed on, artillerymen in khaki followed; then the 
Old Guard, and last of all the schoolgirls, marching by 
fours with the precision of veterans. 

When the police lines had been broken up and the usual 
evening crowd were once more passing back and forth 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 161 

across the Park, the Mayor's bodyguard found himself in 
230ssession of an unexpected souvenir — Marshal Joffre's 
blue-gray cloak, which the Marshal had laid aside on en- 
tering the Governor's room and had forgotten to put on 
before he went away. Other French officials had forgotten 
it, too, and although the officer rushed down the City Hall 
steps with the cloak over his arm, he found that the Marshal 
had long since gone. The cloak was afterwards sent to 
the Frick mansion. 

IN CENTRAL PARK AND IN BROOKLYN 

The next day's activities began early. At the Frick man- 
sion, where Marshal Joffre received an immense bouquet of 
American Beauty roses from children, one of them, attired 
in the uniform of a private soldier of France, so took the 
Marshal's fancy that he lifted the child and kissed it. Among 
the children were Priscilla Choate, Marion Choate and Joseph 
H. Choate, 3rd, grandchildren of Joseph H. Choate. At that 
time the first Motor Battery, N. G. N. Y., stood on guard 
in Fifth Avenue, opposite the house, its equipment three 
armored motor cars and eighty-two motorcycles, besides 
which soldier riders stood at attention. Fifth Avenue was 
only comfortably filled with spectators because almost 
every one in the neighborhood had hurried to the North 
Meadow in Central Park, where 20,000 school children in 
white blouses and tricolor sashes had gathered for the 
presentation to Marshal Joffre of a miniature in solid gold 
of the Statue of Liberty on a silver base, purchased with 
money raised by popular subscription through the efforts 
of the New York World. The presentation was made in a 
handsomely decorated pavilion, where fifty thousand or 
more persons stood in the meadow, or on the rocky slopes 
that enclose it. It was 9:45 when the motor cars of the 



162 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

visitors and escorting city officials turned from the East 
Drive of the Park into a rope-lined lane leading across 
the meadow to the pavilion. 

After the party had alighted at the pavilion, Mayor 
Mitchel made a brief speech, in which he referred to the debt 
which this country owed to the man who "at the battle of 
the Marne stayed the rising tide of absolutism and saved 
for the world the cause of popular self-government." 
Charles M. Lincoln, managing editor of the World, made 
a brief speech of presentation, and Master Rousseau, son 
of the Mayor's secretary, pulled aside the flag that con- 
cealed the miniature statue just before a little girl, arrayed 
in a red and white Zouave uniform, shouted in a finy 
voice : "Vive La France !" Marshal Joffre raised the child 
in his arms and kissed her on both cheeks, then turned 
toward the Mayor and Mr. Lincoln and replied with his 
first formal speech in New York: 

I am profoundly touched by the remarkable 
souvenir which, with such delicate attention, you offer 
me. I am profoundly touched above all, when I con- 
template the value of this emblem as coming to me 
from the common people of America, from the people 
as a whole, and I thank you from the bottom of my 
heart, and I ask you to thank the people for this gift, 
which I shall keep all my life, which I shall carry to 
my home, which I shall have under my eyes every day 
to remind me of my love of America and of what 
America has done for France. I shall treasure it for 
what it stands for and for what it means to us. 

The cheers that greeted the Marshal's words ended only 
when the school children burst into the "Star-Spangled 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 163 

Banner." At the conclusion of the song, during the sing- 
ing of which the visitors stood at attention, the assembled 
party hurried to their motor ears and the crowds to vantage 
points from which to catch a last glimpse of the Marshal. 
The journey back to the Frick mansion was made through 
crowded lanes of people, who filled the sidewalks along 
Fifth Avenue. 

Other throngs were soon encountered in Fourth, 
Lafayette and Canal Streets, the course by which the 
French visitors were to reach Manhattan Bridge; for 
Brooklyn was now to have an opportunity of pajdng hom- 
age to Marshal Joffre and M. Viviani. Brooklyn offered 
a tribute that would have exceeded the welcome accorded 
the day before by Manhattan, had that been possible. From 
the moment when the motor cars bearing the French vis- 
itors glided off the bridge, they proceeded through closely 
banked crowds of men and women, of girls garbed in white, 
and of boys waving American and French flags. All along 
the route to the Ninth Street entrance to Prospect Park, 
where Marshal Joffre was to unveil a statue of Lafayette, 
and back to the bridge afterward, the motor cars never 
escaped dense throngs of shouting admirers. Only when 
they entered upon the bridge, from which the. police had 
barred spectators, had the crowd ceased. 

On the Brooklyn side of the bridge school children lined 
the plaza several deep, each waving a flag. The crowds 
were denser than in Manhattan. School children lined 
eveiy thoroughfare. In Sackett Street young women of 
Adelphi Academy in caps and gowns stood at the curb and 
cheered. In Plaza Street, extending along the park, school 
children were stationed on a grassy slope where they waved 
colored handkerchiefs so apportioned as to form an ani- 
mated flag of France. Standing two rows deep were the 
Fourteenth Infantry and Thirteenth Coast Defense Com- 



164 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

mand, their lines extending all the way from the beginning 
of the park to the Ninth Street entrance, where the cere- 
monies about the statue were held. Along this whole dis- 
tance Marshal Joffre stood with his hand to his red and 
gold cap at salute, the soldiers standing with arms pre- 
sented. The crowds were so dense that time and again 
they threatened to break through the police lines and re- 
serves had to be summoned to cheek them. When Marshal 
Joffre tore off the pennant that veiled the monument of 
Lafayette, August Bouilliez, of the Theatre de la Monnaie 
in Brussels, sang the "Marseillaise." Mayor Mitchel for- 
mally accepted the gift on behalf of the city. A brief 
dedication address was made by M. Yi\'iani, who said : 

It is impossible to convey in words the appreciation 
which is overflowing in my heart for this reception 
and tribute to France. We find in America hearts 
that vibrate as one with untold sympathy for France 
which was inspired by our countryman Lafayette. 
Lafayette not only performed a great duty for Amer- 
ica, but also for France, since he has endearedAmeriea 
to France in this hour when France stands in need 
of help. 

After Mme. Louise Homer, of the Metropolitan Opera 
House, had sung the "Star-Spangled Banner," Borough 
President Pounds made a presentation of gifts. M. Vivi- 
ani accepted a purse on behalf of French war orphans and 
for himself said he would place a loving cup that he had 
received among the few real treasures of his library. 

AT LUNCHEON AT THE HOTEL ASTOR 

When the Marshal and M. Viviani reached the Hotel 
Aster, at 1:30 o'clock, to attend a luncheon of the Mer- 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 165 

chants* Association, the speedometer on the car showed 
that they had traversed more than thirty miles of city 
streets and park roadways since leaving the Frick home 
that morning. All this time, save on the bridge, they had 
traveled between admiring throngs of spectators. At the 
moment when Marshal Joffre and M. Viviani were entering 
the hotel a woman with a three-year-old boy in her arms 
crowded to the front. A policeman tried gently to push her 
into the crowd, but she persisted till the officer took her 
by the shoulders, shook her, and forced her back. Marshal 
Joffre and M. Viviani arrived just in time to see the inci- 
dent. The Marshal halted and saluted the boy and M. 
Viviani smiled and spoke to him in a kindly tone. 

At the Hotel Astor guarantees of a permanent peace and 
some form of world arbitration were demanded by M. 
Viviani in an impassioned speech. He declared that there 
could be no peace so long as Germany clung to the idea 
that might makes right. He declared also that France 
must recover Alsace-Lorraine. The cheers from the crowd 
that leaped to its feet in greeting this statement showed that 
every one was heartily in sympathy with the demand for 
restoration. 

That the assemblage was in no temporizing mood was 
shown by its enthusiastic reception of Joseph H. Choate's 
warning against "the meretricious overtures for a German 
peace which is no peace," and of his appeal to the Govern- 
ment at Washington, "For God's sake, hurry up!" The 
last phrase drew longer continued and more vigorous ap- 
plause than any other feature of the entire luncheon except 
the short speech — a very short speech — which was drawn 
from Marshal Joffre by the steady and thunderous cheers 
which followed his presentation. The Marshal rose reluc- 
tantly, with evident emotion, and spoke a few sentences in 
his own language so softly that not many could hear them. 



166 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

The assemblage was seated in the grand ball room, and 
the side chambers opening into it, and numbered nearly 
2,000 — the fortunate first comers of more than 10,000 ap- 
plicants for tickets. Five hundred more sat in the gal- 
leries. Everywhere the American flag was the dominant 
feature of the decorations — indeed, the only feature, except 
above the Chairman and the guests of honor were seen 
the orange, white, and blue of the city draped on the wall 
and above it an American flag flanked by the French tri- 
color and the British merchant marine ensign. After the 
luncheon had been eaten Mr. Choate rose and made an 
introductory speech. James M. Beck, author of a nota- 
ble war book, "The Evidence in the Case," also spoke. The 
speech of M. Viviani was as follows: 

Ladies and Gentlemen : When Mr. Beck began his 
admirable speech he spoke to France from the depths 
of his heart. He was right when he said that we have 
just passed through never-to-be forgotten moments, 
and because of the emotions which have come to us 
in them, I ask myself, accustomed as I am to popular 
manifestations, and used as I am to finding myself 
face to face with great assemblies like this — I ask 
myself where I can find words in which to tell you 
the undying gratitude we have for the people of 
New York; to tell you how deeply we have been 
stirred since we had the honor to arrive in this mag- 
nificent city. 

In the wonderful welcomes succeeding each other 
since our arrival. Mayor Mitchel has pointed out to 
us, one after the other, yesterday afternoon and this 
morning, all the different peoples of your community 
who with one accord have turned to us, have turned 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 167 

to France, and by their cheers and acclamations have 
welcomed us with shouts of hope and of confidence. I 
cannot tell you, although yesterday I tried the best I 
could to tell you, how much I was moved by the mag- 
nificent welcome we received, and now in this great 
banquet hall, too small, they tell me, to bring together 
all the members of your Merchants' Association, you 
seem numberless to my eyes. I have been thrilled and 
cheered standing here by your shouting your loud ac- 
claim of France, cheering for France, cheering for 
the war, because you have understood that the war 
has now taken on an aspect which no human being 
could possibly have foreseen. 

There have been other wars before this, wars in 
which the armies were well equipped with ammuni- 
tion and supplies sufficient to carry on the struggle 
for a few months, but now we have entered upon a 
war where everything is different, where weeks are 
months, and months are years, where the entire co- 
ordinated energies of the nation are essential to its 
successful prosecution. Everything has been on a 
scale which no human mind could foresee, and our 
troops have been deluged with masses of steel beyond 
the conception of our minds. Now we have turned 
to you and you have supplied us with munitions, you 
have supplied us with your steel, you have supplied 
us with your money. I thank you, we all thank you 
for your generosity. We thank you for what you have 
done for France. We thank you for your loyalty to 
France, and for the amount of work which you have 



168 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

done that has enabled the armies of France to keep 
up the good fight. 

We are pleased to know, and it is not something 
that we have just learned, it is something that we 
have always known, that America has put all its effi- 
ciency, and all its skill, and all its soul into the great 
work. But if you in never-failing supply have fur- 
nished arms and munitions to our French soldiers, 
you must know that they have used them well and 
worthily and with good faith. We French made no 
mistake when we weighed the character of the Amer- 
ican people. You who are men of business, men en- 
gaged in vast enterprises, creators of great industry, 
who have welded together great organizations and de- 
veloped untold resources — you can never allow your 
brains, your souls, and your hearts to fall to the level 
of commercialism. 

No, you have kept your ancient traditions; your 
past glory is ever present in your hearts, you have love 
and affection, and admiration for civilization and 
humanity. You have an idealism which floats above 
your flag, and that idealism you place above your ma- 
terial interests. We in France never felt a moment 
of anxiety when the croaking pessimists told us that 
you were seeking a peaceful settlement. We knew 
that you were working for humanity. You who are 
accustomed to handling large masses of men, to doing 
things on a vast scale, your vision could not fail to 
take in the great issues at stake. We knew that 
when your day's work is ended you are, all of you, 
ready to devote yourselves to those higher and better 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 169 

things wliich make life worth living and mankind an 
admirable thing. 

And now, as a Frenchman coming to speak here 
in America, I must be allowed to refer on behalf of 
my compatriots and my friends, to something of which 
we are all justly proud. I refer to what came to some 
perhaps as a revelation. Ah ! France before the war 
seemed to many to be a country to which people went 
as to Paradise, in order to seek happiness and enjoy- 
ment. And too many of them failed to see that great 
and that real France, that France of 11,000,000 work- 
ing men, 7,000,000 of whom are agricultural laborers. 
That did not seem to them to be the real France, and 
yet it was. In this war France has risen to all occa- 
sions, has taken on all the qualities of an industrial 
organized democracy. 

It is not only the valor of their children; it is the 
training of her officers, the efficiency of her organiza- 
tion, and the coordination of her industry. In this 
country of France we have seen men rising up to 
deal with each situation, to combat each new menace. 
We have found heads of great industries, we have 
found engineers, we have found organization, we have 
seen the whole genius of France clearly expressed in 
its power of organization. We have seen that the 
genius of France was the industry of France; and 
it was the industry of France, aided by the industry 
of America, which was able to produce the shells, mil- 
lions upon millions of which have been hurled upon 
the enemy to clear the way when our children 
mounted to the assault ; it was the industry of France 



170 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

aided by the industry of America which produced 
those things that are as essential in battle as human 
lives, and France has willingly shed her blood for 
our common cause. 

Just now your illustrious statesman, Mr. Choate, 
said that the American and the French flags would 
float together at the front. As if in realization of that 
prediction, I read this morning that there was a great 
and moving popular ceremony in Paris yesterday 
when the people of France saw the American ambu- 
lances driving through the streets of Paris flying the 
Stars and Stripes. I say to you that the joy of the 
people of France when they cheered the American 
flag was their joy at the promise which it stood for. 
It is necessary that the American flag shall be car- 
ried to the flring line, shall float where German shells 
are falling, there in the trenches where French and 
English soldiers are now fighting together shoulder to 
shoulder to the extreme limit of human endurance. 
And when your flag flies there, it will not be like the 
flag you now see around you that hangs spotless in 
regular folds, but I warn you that alongside of the 
stars it will have holes, and among its stripes the 
white will be stained with the blood of your children. 

Yes, you will come to us, pushed forward by the 
irresistible forces of humanity; and I want to say to 
you that we never doubted for one single minute that 
America would come into this war. Do you want to 
know why we were certain that America would come 
into this war? It was not because of submarines; it 
was not your dead in the Lwdtania; it was in de- 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 171 

fense of your honor, the honor of your traditions, the 
honor of your free country. You came into the war 
not only for your national vindication, but for the 
vindication of human rights, and it is for human 
rights that you are fighting, for the most sacred rights 
of free men. You are fighting for liberty, you are 
fighting for democracy. 

We all agree with Mr. Choate. He said, ** Hurry 
up. Do not lose time." We understand his thought 
and we love him for it, but we do not say that. We 
who know what war is, know how intense the prepara- 
tion must be, and that no preparation can be neg- 
lected. 

Mr. Choate also said that France would never ac- 
cept German conditions of peace, and he was right. 
Germany has always thought that by her heavy might 
she could imprison the hearts and stunt the con- 
sciences of humanity, and so long as that doctrine of 
might prevails Germany can never offer us conditions 
of peace that will be acceptable. We will never make 
peace until we have that which is ours— Alsace and 
Lorraine. 

We are not fighting a selfish battle. We are not 
fighting to triumph for ourselves, we who did not seek 
this war. We are fightmg for civilization and for 
democracy and for mankind and for what is ours. At 
first we bore the brunt almost alone. We gave to all 
the allies of France a breathing space in which to get 
ready to stand by our side, to place their flags along- 
side of ours. Now they are ready. Now you are com- 
ing. Now all freemen in the world are standing shoul 



172 l^ALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

der to shoulder for liberty and for justice. Yes, and 
so we will stand till the end of the conflict. "We will 
thwart the reign of might in the world. We will save 
the future generations. We will save them by our 
blood and by our suffering, but future generations of 
mankind will be forever free from the terrible men- 
ace of German domination. 

AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 

After the luncheon the French Commission motored back 
to the Frick mansion to prepare for their trip to Colmiibia 
University, where was to be conferred on M. Viviani, Mar- 
shal Joffre, Mr. Balfour (by proxy), and Lord Cunliffe, 
Governor of the Bank of England, the degree of Doctor of 
Laws, the occasion being, as President Nicholas Murray But- 
ler expressed it, one of the most notable in Columbia's his- 
tory. The exercises were held in the open air on the steps of 
the library facing One Hundred and Sixteenth Street, and 
were witnessed by thousands. Marshal Joffre was the figure 
upon whom all eyes were focused, as Dr. Butler, in con- 
ferring on him the highest degree which the university can 
offer, said the recipient had made the name of the River 
Marne as immortal as Miltiades made that of Marathon. 
The great throng wildly shouted its full approval of this 
tribute. When M. Viviani stood up to receive his degree, 
the crowds cheered with an enthusiasm that was heard to 
the river banks, and again when the tall, athletic Lord 
Cunliffe stepped forward. Clive Bayley, the British Consul 
General in New York, represented Mr. Balfour, who was 
to receive the diploma when he arrived in New York late 
the same afternoon. 

It was not until 3:50 o'clock that Marshal Joffre, M. 
Viviani and Lord Cunliffe left the Frick mansion for 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 173 

Columbia University. The route ran north on Fifth Avenue 
to One Hundred and Tenth Street and west on that street 
to Morningside Heights, One Hundred and Sixteenth Street 
and the University. Every foot of the way was lined with 
throngs of men, women and children. The progress of the 
party was made amid long-continued cheers from end to 
end. In One Hundred and Sixteenth Street people were 
packed so densely that it was with difficulty the police 
cleared a roadway big enough for automobiles to pass 
through. In front of the library other thousands were 
massed. In the plaza in front of the Columbia University 
a military battalion in khaki stood at attention. On the 
steps in the space reserved for distinguished guests mem- 
bers of the Columbia faculty stood with heads bare. Nearby 
were some of the best-known men of the nation, including 
Charles Evans Hughes, Robert Bacon, Major Gen. Leonard 
Wood, the Rev. Dr. William T. Manning, Rector of Trinity, 
Brander Matthews, Clarence H. Maekay, Herbert L. Sat- 
terlee, John Bassett Moore, Mayor Mitchel, Henry Morgen- 
thau, George T. Wilson, Joseph H. Choate, Otto H. Kahn, 
and nearly every member of the Mayor's Reception Com- 
mittee. 

Two signals announced the coming of the famous guests. 
One was the Columbia yell and the other the whirring of 
police motorcycles which speeded ahead of the column of au- 
tomobiles. President Butler wore his brilliant Cambridge 
robe in honor of the British and his Legion of Honor deco- 
ration in honor of the French. Everywhere flags of the 
United States, England and France snapped in the half 
gale that was blowing. On the western edge of the official 
inclosure a great string of flags fluttered. In that cluster 
was the flag of every nation of the Entente Allies. Every 
person in the throng rose, the men with heads bared, as 
M. Viviani, Marshal Joffre, and Lord Cunliffe marched 



174 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

slowly up the crimson carpeted steps from the automobiles 
in which they arrived. Behind them came other members 
of the French delegation, Marquis de Chambrun, the grand- 
son of Lafayette ; Lieut. Col. Fabry, Chief of Staff of Mar- 
shal Joffre, in blue uniform and wearing the cap of the 
famous Alpine Chasseurs; Lieutenant de Tessan, Marshal 
Joffre's aid, and M. Jusserand, the French Ambassador. 

Marshal Joffre and M. Viviani did not stop in front of 
the Alma Mater Statue, but proceeded directly into the 
library, accompanied by President Butler and William Bar- 
clay Parsons, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Colum- 
bia. Later it was learned that they had gone into an inner 
room to greet in the name of the French Republic Mr. and 
Mrs. John Jay Chapman, the parents of Sergeant Victor 
E. Chapman, the young American aviator who was killed 
in action at Verdun in June, 1916. He was one of the 
famous fliers of the American section fighting with the 
French on the western front. 

In a few moments the distinguished Frenchmen reap- 
peared and took seats on the right of President Butler. 
Ambassador Jusserand sat next to Marshal Joffre and 
translated for him the more telling parts of President 
Butler's address. The chair in front of the statue, occu- 
pied by President Butler, was a famous Benjamin Frank- 
lin chair, one of Columbia's most precious relies, a fact 
made known to the visitors and occasioning interest among 
them.* William Barclay Parsons, wearing his uniform as a 
Major of United States Engineers — Mr. Barclay having 
been called into the Federal service a few days before — 
introduced President Butler, who conferred the degrees 
with the following formulaB: 

*The New York Times. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 175 

Bene Viviani — formerly President of the Council 
of Ministers of the French Republic, now Vice Presi- 
dent of the Council and Minister of Justice, eminent 
as advocate, as parliamentarian, as orator, and as 
statesman, we greet in you the lofty spirit and serene 
determination of the French people, bound to us by 
ties that reach back to our nation's cradle and that 
nothing can ever weaken or break. 

Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre — Marshal of 
Prance, who, by reason of character, courage, and 
superb strategic skill, has made the name of the River 
Marne as immortal as Miltiades made that of Mara- 
thon, and in so doing saved the world for democracy. 

The Right Hon. Walter, First Baron Cunliffe of 
Headley — Governor of the Bank of England, which 
for two and a quarter centuries has maintained so 
high a repute for good faith, for probity, for business 
sagacity, and for prowess, that through its support 
of the public debt and of the commerce, the industry, 
and the shipping of the British Empire it has made 
London the central market place of the world and 
the bank itself a fortress beneficent in time of peace 
and impregnable in time of war. 

Mr. Consul General, to the Right Hon. Arthur 
James Balfour, whom you to-day represent. His Maj- 
esty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Af- 
fairs, crowned with every honor that the public life 
and the universities of Great Britain can confer, dis- 
tinguished alike in philosophy, in letters, and in states- 
manship, coming to us as representative of what must 
always remain to us the mother country, and speak- 



176 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 



ing its words of confidence and regard for the great- 
est of her children, is gladly granted in absentia the 
highest honor which this university can offer. 

After the degrees were conferred M. Vi\dani, made a 
brief speech. He had intended to deliver an oration of 
considerable lengtli, but owing to the cold weather and the 
danger of impairing his voice, was compelled to speak 
briefly. Following is what he said, the original French 
being given, as readers may like to have a specimen of 
the famous orator's speeches in the language in which it 
was delivered: 

MesdameSy Messieurs, 

M. le President de I'Universite vous a prevenus 
que je ne pourrai vous addresser que quelques mots ; 
vous I'aviez deja compris, car, sous ce del, au milieu 
de cette immense assistance, il est impossible a un 
orateur de faire parvenir toute sa pensee. Mais je 
manquerais de gratitude si je ne profitais de I'occasion 
qui m'est offerte pour remercier M. le President de 
rUniversite que j'ai eu deja I'honneur, il y a que- 
ques annees, de voir a Paris ; et je remercie egalement 
en sa personne tons ses professeurs illustres dont les 
noms et I'instruction sont connus et qui ont ecoute 
la parole du Maitre et ses lecons de verite. 

Plus d 'un lien rattachent la France a 1 'Amerique ; 
parmi ces liens, le lien universitaire est le plus fort 
et les deux grandes universites americaines et fran- 
gaises ont tou jours ete d 'accord pour reconnaitre que 
I'universite doit distribuer a la fois I'instruction qui 
donne I'elevation intellectuelle et I'education qui 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 177 

donne Televation morale. Vous avez tous compris, 
vous qui m'entendez, qu'il ne suffit pas d'etudier la 
beaute litteraire, la grandeur philosophique, que cela 
n'est rien: il faut, avant tout, former des hommes 
de confiance et de caractere. Nous I'avons bien senti 
nous-memes, aux heures tragiques, lorsque nous avons 
vu se lever tous les enfants de France, dequis ceux 
qui n'avaient regu qu'une instruction primaire 
jusqu 'a ceux qui avaient atteint les degres superieurs, 
tous, simples enfants du peuple, etudiants de la veille, 
se sont dresses sous le drapeau frangais pour lutter 
contre I'envaliisseur. Et vous-meme, M. le President, 
vous-memes, Messieurs, vous avez compris qu'aux 
heures tragiques que nous traversons en commun, il 
fallait faire de cette Universite le centre du patri- 
otisme. Vous avez etabli un hopital, eleve des jeunes 
hommes qui seront demain des officiers capables de 
conduire votre armee, et vous avez montre de quoi 
vous etiez capables. 

Mais ce n'est pas seulement un hommage que je 
dois vous rendre; il m'appartient encore, a moi 
frangais, de vous dire: Ou pourriezvous mieux en- 
voyer vos etudiants si ce n'est sur cette terre de 
France au lieu de les envoyer sur cette terre 
d'AUemagne? Vous savez ce que sont devenus les 
hommes nourris de la culture allemande; et c'est au 
nom de cette culture qu'on a vu declarer par ceux 
qui 1 'avaient recue que la signature allemande devait 
etre dechiree comme un chiffon de papier. Venez 
chez un peuple libre oil vous trouverez en litterature, 
poesie et science des maitres egaux aux votres et qui 



178 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

pourront completer rinstruction de vos enfants. 
Apres la victoire gagnee en commun par de communs 
efforts, je vous demande, M. le President, d'echanger 
nos enfants, de faire visiter I'Amerique par nos 
etudiants et la France par les votres. Et laissezmoi 
vous dire que, de retour en France, je serai Tun des 
artisans les plus convaincus de la grande oeuvre de 
penetration commune. J 'en fais le serment devant 
la statue de I'Alma Mater, la grande Mere Eternelle 
qui forme les cerveaux et les consciences et devant 
laquelle j'ai recu ce titre qui restera I'honneur de 
ma vie et auquel se rattache un souvenir qui ne perira 
qu'avec moi-meme. 

As each degree was conferred Columbia students gave 
their long yell, ending it each time with the name of the 
recipient. Two-thirds of the crowd joined the students in 
shouting "Joffre" as the Marshal stood up to receive his 
degree. Brander Matthews presented the hoods to M. 
Viviani and to Marshal Joffre while John Bassett Moore 
gave hoods to Lord Cunliffe and Mr. Bayley, representing 
Mr. Balfour. M. Viviani and Lord Cunliffe put on their 
gowns, but Marshal Joffre being in his military dress, did 
not, since the greater distinction was not to be obscured by 
the lesser. The exercises were brought to an end by the 
singing of "America." The crowd remained standing while 
the visitors proceeded to their automobiles, the cheering be- 
ing continuous until the last ear was out of sight. The 
last that Columbia saw of the visitors was when Colonel 
Fabry rose in his car, looked back and waved a last fare- 
well to thousands who jammed One Hundred and Sixteenth 
Street. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 179 

AT grant's tomb AND AT THE STATUE OF JOAN OF ARC 

After this ceremony Marshal Joffre went directly to 
Grant^s Tomb, accompanied by M. Viviani and other mem- 
bers of the Commission. Descending alone into the crypt 
he climbed a stepladder that had been hurriedly requisi- 
tioned as a means by which he might reach the top of the 
sarcophagus, in which rest the remains of the Union com- 
mander. There he deposited a wreath of laurel, held to- 
gether by the colors of France and America. Above at 
the circular stone rail with bared heads stood the other 
members of the Commission, Mayor Mitchel, General Daniel 
Appleton, General Leonard Wood, and a few others. The 
police estimated that at least 25,000 people had gathered 
outside the Tomb. It was an impressive scene when the 
French soldier below in the darkened crypt, at the top 
of the ladder, paid this tribute to the great soldier of 
another era and of another war for human liberty. After 
he had arranged the wreath, he stepped back and stood 
at attention, his hand at salute, uttered a few words in 
French, so low that they were inaudible in that stillness 
even to those above him. After a brief inspection 
of the battle flags, Marshal Joffre reappeared on the floor 
above. 

From Grant's Tomb the visitors went to the Joan of Arc 
statue at Riverside Drive and Ninety-third Street. Here 
they were met by a delegation representing the Daughters 
of the American Revolution, who presented Marshal Joffre 
with a check foi^ 38,000 francs, to be used in any way he 
saw fit for the relief of suffering in France. Marshal Joffre 
placed a wreath of laurel at the base of the monument, the 
crowd meanwhile silent, and men and boys baring their 
heads. The ceremony was as brief as it was impressive, and 
was over in less than five minutes. The party then went 



180 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

through Seventy-ninth Street and Central Park to the 
Frick mansion to prepare for the events of the evening. 

AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY AND THE METROPOLITAN OPERA 
HOUSE 

At 10 :30 Marshal Joffre stood in the great reading room 
of the Public Library where clerks give out books as taken 
off the dumbwaiter, and made the third of his four brief 
speeches of the day to a pushing crowd that almost over- 
whelmed him, despite the moderating influence of a large 
body of policemen. He had stopped there for a few min- 
utes only while on his way to the Metropolitan Opera 
House, where Governor Whitman was to present him to 
an audience at a gala performance. M. Viviani, wearied 
by the day's continuous performance, had found himself 
too exhausted to remain to the end of the ceremonies. There 
were many thousands outside the library all through the 
evening, their interest held by the lights and decorations 
and by an eagerness to catch some further sight of Marshal 
Joffre. 

The decorations and lighting about the library provided 
a spectacle that New York had seldom if ever surpassed. 
A pillared court of honor was built along Fifth Avenue 
from Fortieth to Forty-second Street ; its columns wreathed 
with evergreens and surmounted by urns, with American 
eagles at each column besides symbolic medallions, and the 
draped flags of twelve allies. From the marble balustrade 
in front of the library terrace three tall poles were raised 
on either side of the entrance, and from their crossbars hung 
long banners bearing devices of the American eagle, the 
British lion and the Gallic cock. Hundreds of Chinese lan- 
terns glowed along the terrace and the white facade. There 
were lights beneath each window, shining brightly on navy 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 181 

recruiting posters pasted on the panes. There were lights 
hidden behind the cornices, lights everywhere along the 
deeply indented walls. The twin fountains by the side of 
the great entrance were also illuminated, the water splash- 
ing in a constant sparkle of light. The handling of im- 
mense crowds along the avenue and in every cross street by 
policemen was in notable contrast to confusion inside.* 

When Marshal Joffre, with Governor Whitman, after- 
ward stepped into a box fronting the stage at the Metro- 
politan Opera House, the great audience rose to its feet, 
forgetting that Paderewski was playing a masterpiece. 
With a wide sweep of his right hand the Marshal saluted, 
as the audience cheered and sang the "Marseillaise." He 
then made a brief speech: 

Ladies and gentlemen: I am deeply grateful for 
all the greetings, for all the smiles, and for all the 
cheers that you have manifested here to-night; but I 
must take them not as an expression to me personally, 
but as a tribute from you to the fighting army in 
France. If the soldiers of my beloved country could 
know of this great spontaneous outburst of affection 
and patriotism on the part of the people of this great 
city, they would receive new inspiration and stimula- 
tion. Their hearts would be deeply stirred, as mine 
has been to-night by this overwhelming evidence of 
your support. This is the greatest demonstration I 
have ever seen. I am not an orator, ladies and gen- 
tlemen, and I cannot say more than that I am pro- 
foundly touched by this magnificent demonstration. 
I shall carry the memory of it back to the soldiers 

*The New York Times. 



182 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

of France. I say now and again, ''Long live the 
United States! Long live the City of New York!" 

Marshal Joffre remained in the box while the Metropoli- 
tan chorus continued the "Marseillaise" and sang "God 
Save the King," and Mme. Homer sang "The Star- 
Spangled Banner." It was one of the most inspiring scenes 
the Opera House had ever witnessed. When Mme Homer, 
after singing the first verse of the national anthem, stepped 
to the front of the stage and waved the flag, the tremendous 
audience joined in with a demonstration that made Marshal 
Joffre almost drop his cap while he was applauding. When 
the song was finished, the audience by a common impulse 
turned to look at the distinguished guest who saluted and 
applauded again. With his military aide he went away 
thirty minutes later. The affair had been arranged by the 
Marshal Joffre Committee; the receipts, which exceeded 
$86,000, being turned over to him for the French war or- 
phans. When he and Governor Whitman left their box, 
they went quickly to the Fortieth Street exit, where Squad- 
ron A was drawn up with swords at salute. Only the best 
efforts of the police and of Squadron A could keep back 
the enonnous crowd and secure the Marshal's passage. 
Former Governor Hughes and Mrs. Hughes had sat in the 
box with Marshal Joffre. Seats for this entertainment 
had sold for from $3 for the upper gallery to $25 for orches- 
tra seats, boxes selling for $1,000 each. 

M. VIVIANI AT A BAR ASSOCIATION LUNCHEON 

Appearing as the first lawyer of France before the law- 
yers of New York, M. Viviani, while Marshal Joffre was 
at West Point on May 11, spoke at a luncheon at the Bilt- 
more given by the Bar Association. He said he felt at 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 183 

home among 900 lawyers, and talked as if he did, his efforts 
unrestrained, his gestures profuse, and at all times eloquent. 
A half dozen times he swept his auditors to their feet in 
wild cheers. George W. Wickersham presided. Charles 
Evan Hughes also spoke and brought the audience to its 
feet three times in applause led by M. Viviani. Following 
is M. Viviani's speech: 

My dear brethren : It seems to me that something 
would have been lacking in my life, in my career, 
if in passing through this great city of New York, 
where nearly 6,000 of my brethren work and are the 
honor of the bar of the United States, I had not been 
accorded the honor of meeting them and shaking 
their loyal hands. 

The Parisian bar, as well as those of all 
France, are peopled with young men who had de- 
voted their hearts to the future. Before them an 
immense career opened. They were satisfied to work 
peaceably in their study for the purpose of attain-- 
ing fortune, either great or small ; in any case to give 
credit to their life. They were quietly working there 
in the month of July, 1914, and the summer, with 
its bright, clear days, after a year of work, called 
them to the holiday vacations. Then we heard the 
tocsin of war. The first cannon shot resounded. The 
tragic hour in our history was unveiled. The horizon 
became suddenly darkened and was zigzagged by the 
flashes of the tragic light, and all these young men, 
doffing the lawyer's robe, seizing arms, left to join 
the colors, to rejoin their regiments. 

And you were right just now, my dear comrade, 



184 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

in rendering homage not only to the lawyers but to 
all those men of the liberal professions who in France 
have joined the colors, in company with peasants and 
workingmen. Yes, it is an admirable example of na- 
tional unity and sacred union which glorious France 
has offered to the world. Not a man, whatever his 
rank, whether he wears the apron of the workingman 
or the blouse of the peasant, whether he wears the 
robe of the Magistrate or that of the lawyer; not a 
man, whether rich or poor, failed in his duty. And 
at the same hour, on the same day, all bowing their 
heads to the level of the bloody trenches, all together 
forming the democratic army, the great army of citi- 
zens all went together, representing France, before 
the enemy. 

But what am I saying? It is not true! I lessen 
their role ; I lessen their mission. They did not rep- 
resent France alone. They felt that they were bound 
to our national history by more than a tie. The 
soldiers of 1914, indeed, were soldiers in 1914. They 
defended the territory, the country invaded. That 
they did. But do you believe that discipline, that 
the apprehension of danger — do you believe that the 
orders given by the leaders to the soldiers suffice to 
engender such a heroism? That which caused the 
army to line up was that it was an army of soldiers 
as well as citizens; it was because in reviewing the 
past it saw a past filled with glory ; it was because it 
did not wish to be unworthy of its great ancestors 
who suffered and fought on French soil; in a word, 
this national army knew that it was defending the 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 185 

principles of justice and humanity to which you have 
rendered so just an homage. And that is what, in 
the towns I have passed through, however feeble my 
voice may be, in the midst of immense throngs gath- 
ered before me, that is what I have said. I have 
brought all the strength of my heart to it. 

You were right, my dear brother, my illustrious 
brother, illustrious Judge of the Supreme Court, you 
were right to say that we had finally found the means 
of appealing directly to the heart of America. And 
do you not think that I have noticed it? Do you 
imagine that I have not felt that my words pene- 
trated the souls of those who surrounded me? Do 
you imagine that an orator, who, being in the pro- 
fession, could speak, could be carried away by that 
alone, by his individual thought, if he did not feel 
consciences and hearts vibrating around him? Yes, 
it is because I have felt in you a heart similar to 
my own, because my impression corresponded to 
yours, because my emotion has risen to the height of 
yours, because yours has risen to the height of mine, 
that we have understood one another, and that in 
spite of the difference in language which is the habili- 
ment of the soul, we have perceived one soul, the 
same, the same in France as in America. 

Your attitude to-day, like the attitude which I 
have already spoken of, has been outlined by Mr. 
Hughes. He said, and I repeat it: It is not an 
abstract salute which the French mission has brought 
to America. No, we are not here merely to exchange 
expressions of international friendship; we have not 



186 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

come merely for the purpose of shaking hands with 
you; we have not come here to salute you nor to be- 
come intoxicated by the clamorous acclamations which 
greet us in your streets. We have come here to pene- 
trate your souls, to penetrate your hearts. Yes, this 
I say, we have come, however unworthy we may be 
of our mission, to show you the great soul of wounded 
France, of suffering France, of eternal France. 

All the orators who have preceded me upon this 
platform have accorded me too much praise to per- 
mit me, with modesty, to surpass the height of his 
eulogy. You have shown the French isolated at the 
beginning of the war, sleeping in muddy and bloody 
trenches, fighting night and day, constantly, not only 
for themselves, but for humanity. You have con- 
sidered the French Army as the vanguard of all the 
armies of free men. Yes, indeed, that is true. For 
the last three years we have been fighting for liberty ; 
we are flinging to the breeze under the fire of cannon 
the banner of universal democracy. May free men 
now rise and come to our side ! For the honor of hu- 
manity let us not be alone in this fight. 

Come to us, American brothers, whose hearts have 
been attached to ours since Lafayette, with his French 
soldiers, landed upon your soil and loaned the aid of 
his arms to American independence. It is not for 
France; it is not for you; it is not for England; it 
is not for Russia. No; it is not for the nations; it 
is for the whole world ; it is for all humanity. 

And Mr. Hughes has just said that he could not 
imagine a country where international law would no 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 187 

longer exist. In fact, it would be a country similar 
to a forest in which there would be neither laws nor 
judges, and where he who entered might at any step 
be assassinated. And I say to you, what good will 
your and my pacifist studies be, what good will it be 
to open the files of our clients, what good will it be 
to invent codes for the determination of individual 
conflicts? What good will it be to plead individual 
causes before judges if the great cause of humanity 
is not gained by our arms, by our soldiers? 

Then let us close our brief cases. Turn from the 
study of the law so long as human right has not ob- 
tained the satisfaction to which it is entitled. And 
since in the history of the world no progress can 
be initiated unless it is born in pain, since human 
and eternal right can only stand after immense heca- 
tombs have been slain around it, let us send our pious 
homage to those who have fallen for the holy cause 
and create in ourselves a heart of iron, a heart in- 
accessible to fear and sorrow ; let us continue our road 
to the end, to the end of the war, to the victory of 
justice and democracy. 

Permit me to thank you for your presence in this 
hall, for this immense audience which hears me, to 
whom I can say that never more than to-day have I 
so much regretted my inability to speak your beauti- 
ful language in order that I might express to you 
with clearness and precision which this language af- 
fords all the sentiments which fill my heart. 

Permit me to say that to have been received by 
you will be one of the cherished souvenirs of my life. 



188 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

And let me add that I shall not leave this hall filled 
with exaggerated pride or with too great iramodesty. 
Indeed, although this opportunity allows you to ad- 
dress your eulogies to me, I do not take them to my- 
self : it is for the great judicial family to which for 
thirty years I have belonged, to the Parisian bar. 

MR. Balfour's arrival 

New York after three tumultuous days devoted to M. 
Viviani and Marshal Joffre, ralhed gallantly to the task 
of making the British Commission welcome. What might 
have been a painful anti-climax achieved, however, the full 
flavor of a triumph. Landing at the Battery, Mr. Balfour 
was taken to the City Hall in a car, in which he was seated 
with Mr. Choate, and was closely followed by Sir Cecil 
Spring-Rice, the British Ambassador. Then came in long 
procession the military, naval and diplomatic members of 
the Commission. The officers all wore khaki, the only uni- 
form which British officers were allowed to wear till the end 
of the war, its monotony relieved by an occasional touch of 
scarlet ribbon. Naval officers, too, were in ser\dce uniform. 
Just inside the entrance to the City Hall Mayor Mitchel 
met and greeted the guests. Proceeding into the building 
and then up-stairs. Mayor Mitchel and Mr. Balfour led the 
way, Mr. Choate and Ambassador Spring-Rice following 
and then Frank L. Polk, Counselor of the State Depart- 
ment, just ahead of the military members of the Commis- 
sion. The party marched between a double line of salut- 
ing swords in the hands of members of the Veteran Corps 
of Artillery. Officers saluted the colors of the corps as they 
passed on the landing of the circular staii-way. 

Guests of the Mayor, who had assembled, set up a loud 
cheer as the party walked in. Mr. Balfour took his stand 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 189 

on the dais where the French Commissioners had received 
the City's welcome two days before, with Sir Cecil Spring- 
Rice on his right and the tall figure of General Bridges 
on his left. After another burst of cheering, with much 
waving of the flags of the allied nations from the gallery 
and of silk hats from the floor, the Mayor extended his 
formal welcome. Mr. Choate was asked to speak on behalf 
of the citizens of New York. 

Mr. Balfour had listened with evidence of deep emotion 
to the addresses of welcome. When it was his turn to 
respond he found his voice breaking several times. He 
spoke rather slowly, seeming to find his feelings were 
interfering with his choice of words. His seriousness was 
reflected in the spirit that fell upon the audience. They 
had given him a demonstration equal in volume and in- 
tensity to that which had been accorded to the Marshal of 
France. When he began to speak they listened with deep 
and solemn earnestness, as if realizing the tremendous im- 
port of his visit. They applauded when he declared that 
America would share the trials and the triumphs of the 
European Allies; they applauded again when he said: "If 
there be faint hearts on the other side I have not heard of 
them." Throughout the speech it was evident that Mr. 
Balfour's hearers were fully impressed with his own ear- 
nestness, with his picture of America giving new inspiration 
to a terribly burdened but still courageous England.^ Mr. 
Balfour said: 

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Choate, Gentlemen of the City of 
New York: On behalf of my friends and of myself, 
I beg to tender you our warmest thanks for a recep- 
tion which none of us, however long our experience 
may be of public life, have seen the like of, for the 

*The New York Times. 



190 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

reception outside in your noble streets and within 
this historic hall, will always remain imprinted upon 
the memory of every one of us. 

You, Mr. Mayor, in words that breathed the spirit 
of a noble and self-sacrificing love of liberty, have 
told us why it is that you welcome in this enthusiastic 
and whole-hearted fashion our mission from the far- 
off scene of war. You have told us, and Mr. Choate 
has admirably emphasized the sentiments which you 
uttered; you have told us that the American people 
have gone in deliberately, whole-heartedly, enthusi- 
astically, for a cause which has in it no taint of selfish- 
ness, no beginning of self-seeking; that you have 
gone in it, as you, Mr. Mayor, pointed out, because 
all your moral sympathies are on the side for which 
the Allies have been struggling for more than two 
years and a half ; the cause in which they have poured 
out treasure and blood, more valuable than any treas- 
ure, like water, in the cause. You have told us that 
America could no longer stand aloof, but must take 
her part in this world's struggle and must bear a 
share, and it will be a great share; a great share in 
that contest for the liberties of mankind which is now 
moving every corner of the earth. 

You, Mr. Mayor, I remember in your speech told 
us that although your active participation in the war, 
your formal declaration of war, was but thirty days 
old, the moral sense of this great city and of the 
United States had been from the beginning with the 
allied cause. I know that it is so, and, believe me, 
even before you came in and before, as Mr. Choate 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 191 

said, you were prepared to throw everything you pos- 
sessed into the struggle, even before that the con- 
sciousness that we had behind us the sympathy of 
this great nation was no small support to those who 
were for the moment bearing the whole burden and 
heat of the day. 

But a happier occasion has come. The United 
States have thrown all they possess of manhood, of 
wealth, and of those high qualities which are better 
than wealth and greater, and greater even in the 
cause of terrestrial fighting than wealth — they have 
thrown all those resources into the common stock; 
they are going to share our fortunes, share our trials, 
share our struggles, and, Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, 
share our triumphs. 

Those who had the good fortune to drive through 
the streets of the city up to this hall, I am sure, must 
have been astounded at the whole-hearted exhibition 
of enthusiasm which from every street, from every 
window, from every house, made itself visible and 
audible to the spectators. Seldom have I seen a sight 
— and my experience, alas, is an old one — seldom, 
or never, have I seen a sight so deeply moving ; never 
have I seen a sight which went more to the heart, and 
I thought, as I drove along those streets, that on the 
other side of the Atlantic, where the stress and strain 
of battle seems sometimes hard to sustain, if they 
could have one glimpse of the sympathies shown them 
in this vast and noble community, it would have given, 
if there be faint hearts— I have not heard of them on 
the other side— if faint hearts there be, it would 



192 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

indeed have given them new strength, new courage, 
and fortified them with new resolution, and they 
would have felt, if they ever had ceased to feel it 
before, they would have felt again that firm de- 
termination to carry through at all sacrifices this 
great struggle to its appointed end, which, after all, 
is the very strength and nerve of the allied forces. 

Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, I do not think I can add 
to advantage anything to what I have already ven- 
tured to say. I know my words have at most but 
coldly and imperfectly expressed the fervor of my 
feelings. You must make up in imagination for any 
deficiency which the reality may possess, for I do as- 
sure you from my heart that never have I been more 
deeply stirred by any occasion or by any cause than 
by this occasion and this cause in the City of New 
York. 

After prolonged cheeiing the commission passed out 
through a lane opened in the crowd. On the route north 
Mr. Balfour passed under the Washington Arch, the in- 
scription above having a banner which proclaimed: "The 
World Must Be Made Safe for Democracy!" By this trip 
under the arch was symbolized the fact that the differences 
of 1776 and 1812 between this country and Great Britain 
had been forgotten in the common cause of 1917; that old 
wounds had healed and left no scars; that hands which had 
been stretching toward each other across the sea these many 
years, ever drawing closer, had finally met and gripped one 
another. 

The party proceeded thence to the Vincent Astor resi- 
dence on upper Fifth Avenue, where Mr. Balfour was to 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 193 

stay. Mr. Astor and Theodore Rousseau, the Mayor^s Sec- 
retary, sat with the Mayor and Mr. Balfour in the first 
car. Mr. Choate followed with Sir Cecil Spring-Rice and 
Mr. Polk. Solid masses of people along the way shouted 
applause. The party headed by mounted police reached the 
Astor home at 5 :15 o'clock, where they were greeted by Mrs. 
Astor and friends of the British officials, who had gathered 
there to receive them. It so happened that as they reached 
the house, Marshal Joffre, returning from his visit to West 
Point, passed along in a motor car, bound further north, 
for the Frick mansion. Mr. Balfour and Mrs. Astor dis- 
covered him and waved a greeting to the French soldier, 
who rose in his car and saluted them. 



THE WALDORF DINNER TO THE FRENCH AND BRITISH 

At the Waldorf-Astoria that night gathered probably the 
greatest assemblage of distinguished men connected with 
state affairs that New York ever saw brought together — 
Marshal Joffre, M. Viviani, Mr. Balfour, Rear Admiral de 
Chair, Vice Admiral Chocheprat, Lieutenant General 
Bridges, Marquis de Chambrun, Lord Cunliffe, Colonel 
Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Charles E. Hughes, Gov- 
ernor Whitman, Mayor Mitchel and fifteen hundred other 
well-known men. These eminent citizens of New York, in 
dress coats and fine linen, with ladies in the boxes in gay 
silks and bare arms and shoulders, yelled as loudly, as long 
and as enthusiastically as had other and plainer citizens in 
public streets. 

The dinner was the crowning event of the commission's 
sojourn in New York. An electric display of the flags of 
the three allies hung from the Fifth Avenue side of the 
hotel. Thousands of persons had packed the sidewalks 
waiting for members of the two commissions to arrive. The 



194 BALFOUR, VIYIANI AND JOFFRE 

crowd extended far below and above the hotel and backed 
away for several hundred feet into side streets. With voices 
not at all weakened by two days of shouting, men and 
women vociferously hailed the visitors as their automobiles 
rolled down the avenue. The mighty explosion that shook the 
room when the British and French commissioners entered, 
escorted by officials of the state and city, was the first salvo 
in a bombardment that lasted through the evening. First 
came the spare, erect figure of the Mayor, walking beside 
Mr. Balfour, with Governor Whitman following, escorting 
M. Viviani. Then came Senator Calder and the sturdy 
form of Marshal Joffre; Colonel Roosevelt with Sir Cecil 
Spring-Rice, the British Ambassador; former President 
Taft with M. Jusserand, the French Ambassador; Frank 
L. Polk with Admiral Chocheprat, Nicholas Murray Butler 
with Admiral de Chair, and Major General Wood with 
Lieutenant General Bridges. At the high table, sat witli 
the Maj^or and the leading members of the visiting mis- 
sions, two ex-Presidents of the United States, the Governor 
of New York, and the junior United States Senator. On 
the floor were two former Presidential candidates, Charles 
E. Hughes and Alton B. Parker, great financiers and busi- 
ness men, and officers and civilians of the British and 
French commissions. 

When the g-uests of honor filed in to take their places, 
the order of march became somewhat disturbed, so that 
Colonel Roosevelt came in almost at the end of the proces- 
sion. When the crowd at last saw him, the volume of cheers 
that had been given for Marshal Joffre, M. Viviani and Mr. 
Balfour rang out again. Another excuse for cheering came 
when the Colonel shook hands with Marshal Joffre, beside 
whom he was to sit. It was with difficulty that the room 
was finally stilled. During most of the dinner, the Colonel 
and Marshal Joffre were engagcjd in conversation in French. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 195 

Because the committee wished to give an example of econo- 
mies rendered desirable by war conditions, there was a sim- 
ple menu of five courses only, most of them characteristi- 
cally American — ^the simplest ever served at a great public 
function in the history of the Waldorf. Champagne and 
liqueurs were the only drinks. 

The decorations, designed by Cass Gilbert, were based on 
a background of horizon blue, the color of the French field 
service uniform, hung across the entire wall behind the 
high table. Thirteen wreaths and festoons tied with gold 
ribbons hung from the top of this screen, and in the mid- 
dle two American flags, with the ensigns of the other allies 
grouped about them, surmounted the Blashfield medallions, 
beneath which was a gilt panel emblazoned with the Presi- 
dent's famous phrase "To make the world safe for democ- 
racy." A hedge of laurel extended just behind the guests of 
honor the whole length of the room, with tall cedar trees 
at either end. Just in front on tall staffs were two Ameri- 
can flag's that waved in breezes made by electric fans. All 
through the Mayor's address and the speeches of Mr. 
Choate, Mr. Balfour and M. Viviani, the enthusiasm of the 
crowd broke away at intervals, blotting out the speakers' 
voices with mighty shouts that filled the chamber. The 
Mayor said: 

Ours is not an ancient city. It is not old measured 
by the age of Old World cities. But it is a city of 
extraordinary things. Its short history is full of 
big events. Nothing, however, since the days of the 
Civil War, has occurred in the record or experience 
of New York so momentous in the life of the nation 
of which she is so great a part as the visit to our 
shores of the French and British war commissions. 



196 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Nothing in her civic life, since the visit of Lafayette, 
has equaled in its magnitude or in its stirring quali- 
ties the city's reception of these distinguished guests. 

We prize and we revere the institutions of free 
government which as a nation we have established and 
developed at so great a cost. These institutions, which 
we would defend with our lives to the last ounce of 
our strength, to the last dollar of our resources, are 
at once a blend and product of French idealism and 
British common law. These institutions are threat- 
ened. 

The United States is now at war. These men and 
the peoples that they represent are our allies in 
that war. It is for us and for them a war of self- 
preservation ; a war in which autocratic militarism 
seeks to sweep from the earth the institutions of self- 
governing freeman; a war in which all the pent-up 
barbarism of a thousand years seems to burst forth, 
bent upon obliterating civilization and justice ; a war 
in which the ideals and the institutions of democracy 
are threatened with annihilation. 

This is especially our war. Democracy destroyed 
in Europe means democracy first threatened and then 
destroyed in the United States. At last we see it. 
America is now awake, and New York — New York, 
that has never hung back or faltered in the hour of 
the nation's peril — clasps hands with these, our guests 
and allies, and says to them : ' ' We 're with you in this 
thing to the end, lead where it may." 

What can we say to them? Their peoples have 
known privations and the sufferings of war. We have 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 197 

not. Democracy on this side of the Atlantic, pro- 
tected by the British navy, defended by the valiant 
hosts of France at the Battle of the Marne, secured 
by the armies of the Allies for two years and a half, 
has pursued its prosperous and peaceful course, un- 
shaken by the terrors and the sufferings that have 
torn Europe. 

That day is past. The hour of our trial is at hand. 
It was not to be that American democracy should 
thrive and live at peace while European democracy 
fought and suffered to preserve to the world popular 
self-government. American democracy now must 
make its sacrifice in the common cause of civilization 
and of justice, and it is well for the soul and spirit 
of our nation that this is so. 

Gentlemen of England and of France, our Presi- 
dent, speaking for every loyal citizen of the United 
States, has pledged to you the resources of the United 
States — money, ships, munitions, food. These things 
we give you freely and esteem the giving but a light 
tax upon our unbounded wealth. It is not enough. 

There lacks the spiritual contribution of manhood, 
service and blood-sacrifice. This, too, must be ours. 
Our duty will be done, out debt discharged, our des- 
tiny achieved, only when the hosts of American de- 
mocracy take their places beside the hosts of Eng- 
land and France, resolved to fight and fight and still 
to fight until victory rescues the world from autocracy 
and barbarism. 

Mr Choate, who was introduced by Mayor Mitchel, 
predicted victory for the United States in company with 



198 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

"these dear allies of ours — Great Britain, our beloved 
mother country, and France, our dear, delightful, bewitch- 
ing, fascinating, hypnotizing sister." Referring to an ad- 
dress made by him the day before, in which he urged that 
the Government hurry troops to France, Mr. Choate said, 
turning toward Colonel Roosevelt, who grinned delightedly : 

I cannot see why a man who has already served 
his country so nobly and so w^idely that his fame 
has reached the uttermost corners of the earth, should 
not have been allowed to go when he proposed to offer 
to his country a division of 20,000 soldiers, all pre- 
pared to cross and take their places by the side of 
their brethren in France. I think that if he was 
willing to take the risk of it, we might. But there 
is a wiser body than any of us, an immortal body, 
not possessed so much of soul as of immortality — 
Congress, that stepped in and held Roosevelt back. 

Mr. Choate then predicted a speedy victory for the newly 
strengthened Allies. "For the first time after two and a 
half years of waiting," he said, "I am able to hold my 
head as high as the weight of eighty-five years will allow." 
Mr. Balfour, in following Mr. Choate, said: 

The two inspiring speeches which we have listened 
to this evening were addressed by the speakers in 
the main to their own countrymen. They appealed 
to all the patriotic feelings and all the manhood of 
America to join in the great cause in which the Allies 
are engaged. 

Certainly it was the right of these gentlemen to 
make that appeal. It is not my right. I have not 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 199 

come here — as my old and true friend, Mr. Choate, 
seems to suppose — I have not come here authorized 
by my government to set myself up or to set my 
friends up as instructors of the great American peo- 
ple. They know and you know how to manage your 
affairs, and do not require us to teach you. It may 
be — it probably is a fact — that a study of the pur- 
pose, a very minute study of the history of this war, 
will show those who run and desire to read that there 
are certain mistakes which a great democracy im- 
perfectly prepared for war may easily make. We 
shall be happy to describe those mistakes to you if 
happily it will be your desire to learn the lesson from 
them. But I do not propose either now or at any 
other occasion to set myself up as an adviser or moni- 
tor on these great themes. 

It is enough that I proclaim my unalterable convic- 
tion that we have reached a moment in the world's 
history when the future, not of this country, but 
of every country — not of its interests but of every 
interest — when the very heart of civilization is trem- 
bling in the balance. At this critical moment it is 
my bounden duty, whatever nation or people I ad- 
dress, to raise up my voice and to appeal to all who 
will listen to me that, in the great task which we 
have been bearing for two and a half years, they will 
take the weight also upon their shoulders. 

The Mayor of New York told us in his speech that 
since the Civil War no such date has occurred in New 
York, no such occasion has been seen in New York, 
as yesterday and to-day. What is that? Why it is 



200 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

that the people of this great city have come forth 
instinctively — I was going to say by thousands; I 
feel inclined to say by millions — to show their en- 
thusiasm for the cause you have taken up ? It is be- 
cause they instinctively feel what is the vital issue 
at stake, because they instinctively feel that it is 
neither desirable, nor, were it desirable, possible, for 
this great republic to hold itself aloof from a world 
in suffering and not to do its part to redeem mankind. 
Surely it is a significant fact that here we are, the 
representatives of three great democracies, — my 
friends, M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre, meet with 
us who come from Great Britain, and, in the very 
center and heart of New York, plead a common cause. 
What has brought us all together? What is the 
meaning of this unique gathering ? What is the mean- 
ing of the multitude crowding your streets to-day and 
yesterday ? It is a shallow view to suppose that each 
of these great nations has had a separate and different 
cause of controversy with the enemy — that Russia 
was dragged in because of Serbia, that France was 
dragged in because of Russia, that Great Britain was 
dragged in because of the violation of Belgian terri- 
tory and that the United States has been dragged in 
because of the piratical warfare of the German sub- 
marines. All those causes are, each of them, and 
separately, no doubt sufficient reason; but for a mo- 
ment consider this war carried on by the Allies is 
that of separate interest, separate causes of contro- 
versy, is an utterly inadequate and false view of the 
situation. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 201 

These are but symptoms of the absolute necessity 
in which the civilized world finds itself to deal with 
an imminent and overmastering peril. What is that 
peril ? Who has brought us here together ? What is 
it we are afraid of? I won't say afraid. What is it 
we feel that we have got to stop ? I will tell you my 
view of it. It is the calculated and remorseless use 
of every civilized weapon to carry out the ends of 
pure barbarism. 

To us of Anglo-Saxon, of people of English speech, 
it seems impossible, incredible, that a nation should 
clearly set itself to work and coordinate every means 
of science, every means that knowledge, that industry 
can provide, not for the bettering of its own people, 
but for the demolition of other people. 

The world is too full — the history of the world is 
too full — of the adventures of unscrupulous ambition. 
We know all through history of men who have en- 
deavored, at the cost of others, to expand their own 
estate. We have seen within the last century, or a 
little more, men of genius trying to coerce the world. 
But this is not a case of a new Napoleon arising to 
carry out a new adventure. This is not a case of 
adventure, of genius seeking to art if y his ambition 
within the limits of his own country. 

This is something far different and far more dan- 
gerous for mankind. It is the settled determination 
to use every means, and to use every means in coopera- 
tion, to put the whole world at her feet. We all know 
it is a commonplace that science has enormously ex- 
panded the means by which men can kill each other. 



202 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Modern destruction is carried out as much in the 
laboratory of your universities as it is on the field 
of battle, but we have always believed, we have al- 
ways hoped, that this increased power of destruction 
would be limited and controlled by the growing forces 
of humanity and civilization. We have been taught, 
not by Germany but by those who rule Germany, by 
the military caste which controls Germany — we have 
been taught a different lesson, and we now know not 
merely that every scientific weapon will be put in 
force to make war more horrible than it was in bar- 
barous time, but that even the rights of civilization, 
of trade, of commerce, even the intercommunication 
between different peoples, will be used for the same 
sinister object. 

And at this moment a defect, in any country of 
the world which it is not the desire and the object of 
German diplomacy to aggravate, which German 
money is not used to increase, which does not carry 
with it, not the blessings of wealth, of commerce and 
of intercourse — ^human intercourse — but, on the con- 
trary, these means of domination must quit — the 
peaceful dominations which are the most dangerous 
and sinister allies of shells or guns and of all the 
modern apparatus of war. 

Ladies and gentlemen, that is the danger we have 
to meet, and if at this moment the world is bathed 
in blood and tears from the highlands of distant 
Armenia down to the very fields of France, almost 
within sight of the Straits of Dover — if we have seen 
a destruction of life, a reckless destruction of life, 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 203 

not merely of the life of soldiers, but the life of 
civilians; if we have seen peaceful communities 
dragged through the mire, ruined, outraged; if hor- 
ror has been heaped upon horror until really we al- 
most get callous in reading our newspapers in the 
morning; when we see some of these atrocities, really 
and truly attributed to those with whom we are fight- 
ing — if all these things are true, shall we not rise up 
and resist them? 

Shall we, who know what freedom is, become the 
humble and obsequious servants of those who only 
know what power is? That will never be tolerated. 
The free nations of the earth are not thus to be 
crushed out of existence, and if any proof is required 
that that consummation cannot be reached in the 
civilization of the world, that that consummation is 
impossible, it is to be seen in a gathering like this, 
where the three great democracies of the West are 
joined together and are meeting together, I may say, 
under circumstances unique in the whole history of 
the world. 

And that fact should also give strength and con- 
solation to those who, feeling the magnitude of the 
issue at stake, are inclined to doubt how the contest 
will end. But we will fail unless all here who love 
liberty, and who are prepared to labor together, to 
fight together, to make our sacrifice in common — un- 
less that happens we may be destroyed piecemeal and 
the civilization of the world may receive a wound from 
which it will not easily recover. 

Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, permit me to 



204 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

thank you — permit me to thank you, Mr. Mayor, for 
the kind words you have used to myself, and to thank 
you also and through you the great City of New 
York for the reception which you have given to those 
who, though they have come from afar, do not feel 
that they have come to a strange country, but rather 
that they have come among brothers and friends. 

The series of eloquent speeches with which M. Viviani 
had thrilled the American public ever since his arrival, 
came to a cUmax in the speech he made at this dinner. 
When the dinner was over, he rushed away to take a train 
for Ottawa, Canada, and with him went the stenographer 
who had taken down his speech, which was delivered in 
French. The newspapers, in consequence, not having been 
permitted to send their own stenogi-aphers to the dinner, 
were unable next day to print M. Viviani's speech. In fact, 
it was not until after M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre had 
sailed for France that the speech in translation became 
available for publication. Following is the speech : 

Ladies and Gentlemen: Before leaving New York 
officially with my companions, I wish it were in my 
power to express worthily and in a voice that could 
rise above your cheering and your ovations our thanks 
to your vast population, which even this immense 
city can hardly contain. And as if the enthusiastic 
acclamations of these throngs, which through our pass- 
ing presence reach far above and beyond us to the 
France we represent, were not enough to express your 
feelings, you have here, Mr. Mayor, gathered together 
in this enormous hall for a last farewell the very 
flower of your city. When I lift my dazzled eyes I 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 205 

see beneath a flood of light all the radiance of youth 
and beauty assembled. 

But since I can find no adequate words to ac- 
knowledge our appreciation of your exquisite cour- 
tesy, allow me, Mr. Mayor, to turn in simple thanks 
to you, and through you to the population of New 
York. May I congratulate the city upon being repre- 
sented by such a man as yourself, on whose youthful 
brow I see all the maturity of deep thought, and who 
in order to administer such a gigantic city and to 
meet such complex duties must indeed be gifted with 
an exceptional combination of power and gentleness? 

And if I could, were I not so pressed for time — 
for indeed at this very moment the whistle of the 
train is calling us — I would attempt, as one gathers 
flowers into a nosegay, to recall and bind together the 
various impressions which my companions and my- 
self have gathered in the course of our triumphal 
journey. I used to consider America, in deeds, at 
least, if not in thought, as above all a commercial 
country. But soon after we left "Washington, the 
great political capital and seat of Government, where 
we had the honor of being received by your illustrious 
President, Mr. Wilson, whose invisible and powerful 
presence we seemed to feel everywhere throughout the 
country, soon after we left Washington, accompanied 
by Mr. Lansing's assistants, Mr. Long, Mr. Polk, Mr. 
Phillips, who were kind enough to share with us 
the hardships of the road, who also shared, I may say, 
the intoxication of our triumph, we had a full op- 
portunity of seeing a part, though but a small one, of 



206 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

this vast America which before was unknown to some 
of us. 

And what did we behold? Undoubtedly many 
Americans of ancient origin, but also (and they above 
all attracted our attention, all the more because we 
had heard so much of them) people of all races fused 
in your gigantic melting pot. Many of these races 
have doubtless remained faithful to their old tradi- 
tions, but the American soul is so all-embracing, so 
powerful, that it has absorbed them all, and that they 
are now all American. We saw, with our own eyes, 
proofs of their loyalty to their new fatherland and 
of a national unity we were hardly prepared to find. 

And it is before this people we appear to-day in 
this tragical hour, before this people which has, so 
to say, absorbed into its frame the races and tradi- 
tions of other lands and in whose midst the old Euro- 
pean races have come to renew their blood, and seek 
fresh fountains of strength. It is before this people 
we come to solve grave problems. And in spite of the 
distance, even here our minds go back to the battle- 
fields, to the struggles, the sorrows and the sufferings 
of the old world. Such a meeting at such a time is 
the greatest honor of my life, and I count it also a 
supreme satisfaction to meet here amidst such a 
gathering my distinguished colleague, the representa- 
tive of noble Great Britain, Mr. Balfour, who in a 
simple and manly speech has just expressed truths 
similar to those which I, in my turn, will seek to 
express. 

May I be permitted, Mr. Mayor, to recall those dark 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 207 

days you alluded to just now, those fateful hours, 
when I was Prime Minister of France and Marshal 
Joffre was in supreme command of the French forces ? 
As you very truly said, each knew he could rely 
upon the other. At that hour, on August 3, 1914, we 
were face to face with Imperial Germany. Along with 
Russia, which has now sprung to new national life, 
and which, I trust, after the tempest of its revolution 
is over and its eddies have subsided, will realize that 
national emancipation and world-wide liberty must be 
fought for at one and the same time, alone with Rus- 
sia, France faced her destiny. England had not yet 
joined us, but of her I never doubted. If at that date 
an Englishman had told me he would refuse to fight 
I should have answered he knew not what he said; 
that such a thought was unthinkable. 

And, indeed, those anxious hours passed swiftly 
away ; Germany tore international treaties to pieces in 
order to strike a quicker blow at France ; she invaded 
heroic Belgium, who, with her chivalrous King, rushed 
to meet her, and England, our indomitable ally, rose 
to a man when the fateful hour had struck. With 
us she had signed that broken treaty; she declared 
that her national honor would be stained if the blood 
of her children were not shed to defend her signature. 
She declared there were not two standards of moral- 
ity, one for nations, one for individuals ; that honesty 
was the common basis for all human relations, and 
that she would perish rather than be dishonored. 
And she sprang to her feet, rallied to our side, mobi- 
lized her powerful fleet; and next, as Mr. Balfour 



208 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

said, sent us such an army as she could, for she was 
unprepared, as democracies too often are through the 
failure of a general conscription law, to gather more 
than 80,000 men. But those she sent under Marshal 
French to cooperate with General Joffre and receive 
his instructions. She could do no more. ''French's 
contemptible little army," the Kaiser sneered, but 
it fought with us on the Marne and swelled rapidly 
to 200,000, then 500,000, then 1,000,000, then 1,- 
500,000. Thus did England call from her soil her 
legions to join ours and hold ever wider portions of 
our front. And General Joffre, who, if he was not 
in direct command of the English forces, yet gave 
his instructions first to Marshal French, then to Gen- 
eral Sir Douglas Haig, now in supreme command. 
General Joffre would tell you what valiant soldiers, 
what heroes have rallied to our side, full of that quiet 
energy, dogged courage, humorous cheerfulness, char- 
acteristic of a race that smiles in the very jaws of 
death. 

Now German organizations, German Kultur, are 
fine things, no doubt, gentlemen, when seen from a 
distance. But mark me well, their vices are apparent 
when one draws near to them. Do you know what 
has brought disaster on Germany? What hurls her 
to ruin? Let me tell you: it is her lack of psycho- 
logical insight. She sent to England, to Eussia, to 
France, second-rate diplomats whose only care was 
to gossip in drawing rooms and know not the people. 
Of English history, of French history, they know 
nothing. Germany imagined these two great peoples 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 209 

were helpless to defend themselves. What did she 
think of England? That it was a people enamored 
of peace and that no power could emerge out of their 
island, that the Government in 1914 was pacifist and 
afraid to fight. And again that imperialistic Eng- 
land in her desire to dominate the world would rouse 
her very colonies to revolt; and Ireland's rebellion 
was a sure thing, fomented as it was doubtless by 
German gold. Well, what did happen? Ireland re- 
mained loyal to England, and the English colonies, 
seething with revolt they said, rose, not in revolt, but 
to send their sons, their munitions, their money, their 
very life-blood, to Great Britain. And what does that 
teach us? It teaches us that when a country has an 
ideal, when it loves liberty, not only for itself but 
for all men, when it carries free principles everywhere 
with it, it brings forth not slaves but free men, men 
who in the hour of peril heroically rush as the Eng- 
lish colonies did, to the help of their menaced mother- 
land. 

And so with us. Germany's mistake was no less 
ruinously foolish. She had sent us a diplomat, Mr. de 
Schoen, who knew nothing of France, and who 
dreamed her powerless because he had witnessed our 
interior dissensions, party quarrels, divisions of opin- 
ion, which are the honor of our country, because a 
free nation needs must seek truth and its ideal in 
every way. So Germany imagined the hour of battle 
would find us unprepared, incapable of defense; she 
saw France — corrupt and dissolute France — beaten to 
her feet at the first shock and demanding peace at 



210 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

any cost of Imperial Germany after the first brief 
battles. Doubtless our past history made her give 
us credit for being brave, intrepid, capable of dash 
on the battlefield. But what could courage, intre- 
pidity, dash, avail ; what all the virtues of individual 
men which are the glory of every man? Germany 
was scientifically organized ; her industrial and scien- 
tific organization needs must prevail over French 
valor. 

Well, what did we make manifest to the whole 
world ? Two qualities : One which all men knew who 
knew the glorious traditions of France throughout 
the ages — dash, intrepidity, valor, contempt of death ; 
but another quality was denied us, that of endurance, 
that of patience, that of quiet courage; the steady 
heart and unshaken nerves under the storm of shot 
and shell. Now, in two battles we combined both 
qualities as if we would offer them up to the whole 
world as a homage and a lesson. In August, 1914, we 
showed what dash French troops possessed in spite of 
weariness, in spite of the heat of an endless summer, 
the exhaustion of three weeks' incessant fighting. 
Suddenly, miraculously, the whole French Army stood 
at bay and turned upon its enemy. And the man 
who commanded that army had remained calm and 
impassive. Every evening he telephoned to me, who 
was then Premier of France, the result of the military 
operations; at this very moment I can hear his voice 
come to me over the wires, quiet, grave, unbroken by 
the slightest emotion. And that voice spoke its un- 
flinching confidence in final victory in spite of all. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 211 

And when the hour had struck, the moment come, the 
order was issued, was forwarded to the armies, the 
Generals ; every officer read it to his men : * ' My chil- 
dren, here we stand. Halt and face the barbarians. 
Die to the last man rather than retreat another step ! ' ' 

Such was French dash, French valor. It counted 
for nothing in German eyes. But the day came when 
the other virtue was shown, that on which they relied 
yet less. One day they dreamed Verdun could be 
taken, not because it was in itself the greatest prize ; 
it would have been no victory — ^but to drive into 
France and impose peace — for our enemies think they 
can let peace loose on the world as they unchain war. 
And so German armies were piled up on the French 
front. It was impossible, for now at the opportune 
time comes free America to our side, radiant with its 
democratic ideals and ancient traditions, to fight with 
us. She read in President Wilson's incomparable 
message which has gone to the heart of us to advance 
against such odds. Our Generals spoke : * * Children, 
not one step back ; if you yield a yard, let every yard 
have its bloody cost for your enemy. ' ' 

And through the endless days and nights, under 
shot and shell, under the avalanche of shells that tore 
up the very earth, among their falling comrades, led 
by their officers, our men held fast, contesting every 
inch of ground, fighting for months and months with- 
out an instant's respite, checking the whole weight 
of the German army. And now when we leave our 
land, when we say those two names, the Marne and 
Verdun, we mingle in one the two master virtues of 



212 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

our race, valor and patience, courage and endurance, 
the Marne and Verdun, names wliich accompany us 
wherever we go, in neutral, in friendly, in allied coun- 
tries, the Marne, Verdun, the glory of which follows 
us step by step as we go and sheds its radiance over 
the heavens above us. 

What yet remains to be done? For three long 
years the English and the French, sword in hand, have 
fought, not for England alone, not for France alone, 
but for humanity, for right, for democracy. For 
three long years the Russian soldiers in the northern 
snows, victorious in Southern Europe, have fought 
for the same ideal; for two years seductive, virile 
Italy has scaled the Alps and shattered with its hands 
the stony barrier that stifled its liberty; for three 
years Serbia, murdered, trampled under foot ruth- 
lessly, has fought; for three years heroic Belgium 
has maintained her honor against a perjured foe. 
For three long years we have striven, face to face 
with our enemy, tightened our grasp upon her throat, 
held our own. And now, when we are still strong and 
undismayed, neither worn out nor doubting, still full 
of force and resource, every Frenchman knows the 
deep reasons why America could not but enter into 
this war. Yes; doubtless you had your slaughtered 
dead to avenge, to avenge the insults heaped on your 
honor. You could not for one moment conceive that 
the land of Lincoln, the land of Washington, could 
bow humbly before the imperial eagle. But not for 
that did you rise ; not for your national honor alone ; 
do not say it was for that. You are fighting for the 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 213 

whole world ; you are fighting for all liberty ; you are 
fighting for civilization ; that is why you have risen in 
battle. And just now Mr. Choate said : ' ' The English 
and French Missions are here to tell us what to avoid 
and what to do. ' ' 

And your Mayor expressed in an accurate formula 
his generous conception of our relations when he 
said: ''America is founded on French idealism and 
English common law." Nothing could be truer; it is 
all the truth ; I can add nothing to his words. But I 
will tell you what you can do. You are remote from 
our battlefields ; no Zeppelins can fly above your towns 
and scatter their bombs over the cradles of your inno- 
cent children; German ships are blocked in the Kiel 
Canal; they cannot defile your waters; at this dis- 
tance you cannot hear the roar of the cannon. But 
can you imagine that you are not, in sooth, as close 
to us, in spite of distance, as we are to you — that 
Germany is not as near you as she is to us, that the 
peril is remote? No. The menace of Germany lies 
where Mr. Balfour so philosophically defined it. He 
told you that the menace of Germany lies in her 
scientific organization, and I will attempt to interpret 
his words in the spirit that prompted them. We are 
all agreed Prussian militarism must be crushed; so 
long as the world contains it there is no safety in it 
for democracy. But what is Prussian militarism ? It 
was not born yesterday ; it was not born in 1914. It is 
an ancient sore. It is the bestial and inhuman expres- 
sion of a philosophy, the outcome of a whole race so 
madly intoxicated with conceit that it imagines it is 



214 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

predestined to dominate the world and is amazed to 
see free men dare to rise and contest its rights. And 
if you had not risen against it, it is not with artillery, 
not with shells, not with submarines, not with Zep- 
pelins you would have been attacked. 

It is by the methods and spirit of Germany grad- 
ually filtering into your brains, impregnating invis- 
ibly your hearts, and little by little violating your 
souls and consciences. That was the hidden danger, 
the menace of Germany. You realized the peril, and 
you have risen to face it, to fight a menace not to you 
alone, but to all civilization. Now all we free men 
are one in will. The hour for the liberation of all men 
has struck at last. All have risen in arms in the good 
fight, fought by us, by our children, to the bitter end. 
And we will never falter till victory crowns our aims. 
And when in far-off days after this war history shall 
tell why we fought, in days yet ringing with this 
strife, long after the voice of the cannon is silent, then 
impartial history shall speak. It will say why ail the 
peoples arose in battle, why the free allied peoples 
fought. Not for conquest. They were not nations 
of prey. No morbid ambitions lay festering in their 
hearts and consciences. Why then did they fight? 
To repel the most brutal and insidious of aggres- 
sions. They fought for the respect of international 
treaties trampled under foot by the brutal soldiery 
of Germany, they fought to raise all the peoples of 
the earth to free breath, to the ideal of liberty for 
all, so that the world might be habitable for free men 
— or to perish. And history will add : They did not 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 215 

perish. They vanquished. They shattered the ponder- 
ous sword that German militarism aimed against the 
conscience and the heart of all free men. And thus 
together we shall have won the moral victory and a 
material one. It is that dawn I greet, that hour of 
fate I bow my head before. May the soul of Wash- 
ington inspire our souls ; may the great shade of Lin- 
coln rise from its shroud. We are all resolved to 
battle till the end for the deliverance of humanity, 
the deliverance of democracy. Rise then, brother 
citizens, and lift your brows to the level of your 
flag. 

When M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre left the Waldorf 
at 11 :30 that night their appearance on the street was again 
marked by great cheers from a crowd which still com- 
pletely filled all spaces. Scores of secret service men and 
detectives were there keeping close watch. It was twenty 
minutes to twelve when they entered the waiting room at 
the Grand Central station, still surrounded by secret ser- 
vice men. Here they held an animated conversation for 
several minutes, at the close of which they embraced each 
other with a kiss on each cheek and then went aboard dif- 
ferent private cars on adjoining tracks. Marshal Joffre 
left for Boston and M. Viviani for Toronto. By a late 
arrangement, Boston was to share with Ottawa in entertain- 
ing the member of the French Mission during a two days' 
period that was originally set apart for Boston alone. M. 
Viviani, in accordance with this plan, went to Toronto and 
Ottawa, and was to reach Boston a day later. Marshal 
Joffre meanwhile, after a day in Boston, was to go to 
Montreal. 



216 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

MR. BALFOUR AT THE CHAMBER OP COMMERCE 

Next day, before more than a thousand members and 
guests of the New York Chamber of Commerce, gathered at 
noon in the Assembly Room of the institution, Mr. Balfour 
declared that it had been a dream of his life that the two 
"English-speaking, freedom-loving branches of the human 
race" might be drawn closer together and the causes of old 
differences between them seen in their true and just propor- 
tions. His address, as were two he had made on the pre- 
vious day, was delivered in a voice disturbed with emotion 
and marked by hesitant gropings for phrases to give exact 
and adequate expression to his feelings. He addressed him- 
self to Americans, not as foreigners, nor yet as men all 
sprung from British origins, but as joint heirs with modem 
Britons of the traditions of a great social and political 
past. Introduced by the President of the Chamber, Mr. 
Eugene H. Outerbridge, Mr. Balfour spoke as follows: 

The noble words to whieli we have just listened 
struck, I am well convinced, a sympathetic chord in 
the heart of every one in your audience, but I don't 
think that in all the multitude gathered here to-day 
there was one to whom they went more home than 
to myself. Mr. President, I have had as the dream 
of my life a hope that before I died the union be- 
tween the English-speaking, freedom-loving branches 
of the human race should be drawn far closer than 
in the past, and that all temporary causes of differ- 
ence which may ever have separated two great peoples 
would be seen in its true and just proportion, and 
that we should all realize, on whatever side of the 
Atlantic fortune had placed us, that the things 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 217 

wherein we have differed in the past sink into abso- 
lute insignificance compared with those vital agree- 
ments which at all times, but never at such a time 
as the present, unite us in one great spiritual whole. 

My friend Mr. Choate in a speech that he delivered 
yesterday at the City Hall told his audience that as 
Ambassador to Great Britain he had been in close 
official relations with me through many years, and 
that during all of these years I had stood solid — I 
think that was his phrase — for American friendship. 
That is strictly and absolutely true, and the feelings 
that I have this great opportunity of expressing are 
not born, believe me, of the necessities of the great 
war; they are not the offspring of recent events; 
they are based upon my most enduring convictions, 
convictions of which I cannot remember the begin- 
ning, which I have held with unalterable fidelity 
through a political life which is now a long life, and 
which, I am quite sure, I shall cherish to the end. 

You, Mr. President, have referred to the prepara- 
tions that were made only, I suppose, a little more 
than two years and a half ago — though how long 
those two and a half years seem to all of us ! — prepa- 
rations that were made two and a half years ago to 
celebrate the one hundred years of peace between our 
two countries. I ardently supported that movement, 
and yet the very phrases in which its objects were 
expressed show how inadequate it was to reach the 
real truth and heart of the matter. It is true that 
one hundred years have passed, and many hundreds 
of years, I hope, were to pass, before any overt act 



218 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AKD JOFFRE 

of war should divide those whom, as you said in youp 
final words, should never be asunder. But, after all, 
normal and official peace is but a small thing com- 
pared with that intimate mutual comprehension which 
ought always to bind the branches of the English- 
speaking peoples together. You have absorbed in your 
midst many admirable citizens drawn from all parts 
of Europe, whom American institutions and Amer- 
ican ways of thought have molded and are molding 
into one great people. I rejoice to think it should 
be so. A similar process on a smaller scale is going 
on in the self-governing dominions of the British Em- 
pire. It is a good process ; it is a noble process. Let 
us never forget that wherever be the place in which 
that great and beneficent process is going on, whether 
it be in Canada, whether it be in Australia, or whether 
on the largest scale of all it be in the United States 
of America, the spirit which the immigrant absorbs 
is a spirit in all these places largely due to a his- 
toric past in which your forefathers and my fore- 
fathers, gentlemen, all had their share. 

You incidentally mentioned, Mr. President, that 
this very body I am addressing dates the origin of 
its society to a charter, I think you said, of 1768. Is 
not that characteristic and symbolic of what happens 
on both sides of the Atlantic? We strike out roots 
into a distant past. We have known how through 
revolutions, in spite of revolutions, sometimes because 
of revolutions, and through revolutions, we have 
known how to weld the past and the present into one 
organic whole, and I see around me in a country 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 219 

whicli calls itself and is, in one sense, a new country 
— I everywhere see signs of these roots which draw 
their nourishment and their strength from epochs far 
removed from us, and I feel when I talk to those who 
are born and bred under the American flag, who have 
absorbed all their political ideas from American in- 
stitutions — I feel, and I think I speak for my friends 
here that they also feel — I feel that I am speaking 
to those brought up, as it were, under one influence, 
in one house, under one set of educational conditions. 
I require no explanations of what they think, and I 
am required to give no explanations of what I think, 
because our views of great questions seem to be 
shared ; born, as it were, of common knowledge which 
we know instinctively, and which we do not require 
explicitly to expound or to define. 

This is a great heritage to have in common, and I 
think, nay, I am sure, that you, Mr. President, struct? 
a true note when you told us that all the sentiments 
which I have imperfectly tried to express this after- 
noon will receive a double significance, an infinitely 
increased significance, from the fact that we are now 
not merely sharing a common political ideal in some 
speculative fashion, but that all of us are committed 
to sacrificing everything that we hold most dear to 
carry these ideals into practical execution. There will 
be a bond of union between our peoples which noth- 
ing will ever be able to shake, and which I believe to 
be the securest guarantee for the future of the world, 
for the future peace and freedom of the world. 

You have referred, Mr. President, in most eloquent 



220 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

terms, to the services which at this moment the British 
fleet were conferring not merely upon those who have 
been our allies since the war began, but upon you 
who spoke to-day for the most recent but the greatest 
ally of all. 

I think I may say that on the whole in looking 
back through many generations in which the British 
fleet has carried out a glorious tradition, I may say 
that on the whole its power has been exercised in 
the cause of humanity, in the cause of freedom. Who 
will venture to justify everything, every act, in the 
long history of an ancient nation? Certainly not I. 
I speak merely of the broad outline of our naval his- 
tory, and I say that if you look through that history 
you will find on the whole, and unmistakably, that the 
British sailor has not merely been using his discipline 
power in the cause of freedom and for the protection 
of small nations, but that he has used that power with 
humanity. 

Does anybody think that if the sea power were 
transferred from British to German hands that the 
historian of the future could say the same of the 
German fleet? By their fruits we know them. De- 
liberately brought into existence in the hope that it 
would break down that naval power which the Ger- 
man autocracy — not the German people, but the Ger- 
many autocracy — recognizes as one of the greatest 
bulwarks of freedom, and one of the most powerful 
defenses against world domination, knowing that in- 
stinctively, they have been feverishly building for 
eighteen or twenty years in order that, if it might 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 221 

be so, they could destroy the country with which they 
had no quarrel, and no cause of quarrel, but which 
they regarded with an instinctive and unalterable 
jealousy. They have been disappointed. Their fleet 
remains safely in the harbor. 

What puts out to sea is not the battleship or the 
battle cruiser ; there is no successor of the great fleets 
of ancient times; but the submarine which, in their 
hands, finds its natural prey in the destruction of 
defenseless merchantmen and the butchery of the de- 
fenseless women and children. I will do the German 
fleet the justice to say that I do not believe that this 
was its ideal when this war started, or when its ships 
were under construction. What I do say is that the 
use which the German governing classes are now mak- 
ing of this new weapon, while it will never decide 
the issue of this war, nevertheless indicates a menace 
to the future commerce of the world which must be 
absolutely stopped for the future. Under the old 
maritime laws, which the United States and Great 
Britain in particular have always recognized, fleets 
undoubtedly did interfere with the commerce of any 
enemy belligerents, and it is very difficult to see how 
that could or ought to be avoided until that happy 
time comes when war is neither on land nor sea per- 
mitted to interfere with private rights, or indeed per- 
mitted to go on at all. 

But, gentlemen, maritime warfare as it has been 
carried on by civilized nations in the past has been 
a human affair, carried out under recognized laws, 
under which as little injury was done to the neutral 



222 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

trader as was possible under the circumstances, com- 
pared to the abominations which are now insistent 
upon by the German staff. Huge tracts of ocean are 
marked out at the arbitrary will of one belligerent, 
and within these vast areas neutrals, peaceable trad- 
ers, do not merely have their ships taken in, adjudged 
in the prize court, dealt with, and non-belligerent life 
carefully regarded, but they are sunk at sea, no ex- 
amination, no knowledge of what is in the ship, no 
knowledge of the character of the crew, no knowledge 
of whether there are or are not passengers aboard, 
no knowledge of the goods which are being trans- 
ported, of the place from which they came or the 
destination designed. That, gentlemen, is carrying 
out the methods of barbarism and in a manner which 
would have been regarded as incredible even in Ger- 
many two years ago. It has been carried out by a 
Government which, when it thought worth while for 
diplomatic reasons, was never wearied of talking of 
the freedom of the seas. 

But it is a method of conducting warfare which 
in its indirect consequences, as well as its direct con- 
sequences, is of such a character that the civilized 
world must, when this war is over, take effectual pre- 
cautions against its repetition. For, if not, it seems 
to me that, whenever two countries go to war and 
whenever it suits the least scrupulous of the bel- 
ligerents, not merely will a great wrong have been 
inflicted upon its opponent, but the commerce of the 
whole civilized world will be disorganized and de- 
stroyed. That is impossible to tolerate. And this 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 223 

Chamber has under its guardianship the interests of 
the trade and commerce, and it is of all bodies the 
one most interested in seeing that if in so long as 
wars are still permitted — and I hope that will not 
be long — maritime warfare shall be conducted under 
methods consistent with public law, consistent with 
ordinary humanity, consistent with those fundamental 
principles of morality which underlie — or ought to 
underlie — all law. I look to you, gentlemen, to ex- 
ercise your great influence in this great cause, and 
I doubt not that you will do it effectually. 

Mr. President, I have already detained you too 
long, but there was one word which fell from you 
toward the end of your speech upon post-war prob- 
lems and you indicated your view — a view which I 
personally entirely share — that when this tremendous 
conflict has drawn to its appointed close, and when, as 
I believe, victory shall have crowned our joint ef- 
forts, there will arise not merely between nations but 
within nations a series of problems which will tax all 
our statesmanship to deal with. I look forward to that 
time, not, indeed, wholly without anxiety, but in the 
main with hope and with confidence ; and one of the 
reasons for that hope and one of the foundations of 
that confidence is to be found in the fact that your 
nation and my nation will have so much to do with 
the settlement of the questions. I do not think any- 
body will accuse me of being insensible to the genius 
and to the accomplishments of other nations. I am one 
of those who believe that only in the multitude of 
different forms of culture can the completed move- 



224 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

ment of progress have all the variety in unity of 
which it is capable ; and, while I admire other cultures, 
and while I recognize how absolutely all important 
they are to the future of mankind, I do think 
that among the English-speaking peoples is especially 
and peculiarly to be found a certain political modera- 
tion in all classes which gives one the surest hope 
of dealing in a reasonable progressive spirit with so- 
cial and political difficulties. 

And without that reasonable moderation inter- 
changes are violent, and as they are violent reactions 
are violent also, and the smooth advance of humanity 
is seriously interfered with. I believe that on this 
side of the Atlantic, and I hope on the other side 
of the Atlantic, if and when these great problems 
have actively to be dealt with, it will not be beyond 
the reach of your statesmanship, or of our own, to 
deal with them in such a manner that we cannot mere- 
ly look back upon this great war as the beginning of 
a time of improved international relations, of settled 
peace, of deliberate refusal to pour out oceans of 
blood to satisfy some notion of domination; but that 
in addition to those blessings the war and what hap- 
pens after the war may prove to be the beginning of 
a revivified civilization, which will be felt in all de- 
partments of human activity, which will not merely 
touch the material but also the spiritual side of man- 
kind, and which will make the second decade of the 
twentieth century memorable in the history of man- 
kind. 



I 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 225 

Lord Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England, then 
said: 

To you I need not apologize for my share in this 
great war, it having been not that of any of the 
great affairs, but somewhat — I was going to say des- 
pised, but not quite that — ordinary and not very 
much considered — that of arranging for the ways and 
means. Here in this great assemblage of business 
men I feel that I shall have at any rate a patient 
hearing, and not be expected to attempt to popularize 
or in any way try to explain except in a business 
way, the efforts that have so far been made. 

Perhaps we might take the ways and means, as 
we will call it, of finance in three classes. Finance 
proper — that is, the collecting of the money, the issu- 
ing of prospectuses for the loans, and the dealing with 
the money that comes in. That perhaps has been my 
particular part, aided by the good Old Lady of 
Threadneedle Street that the Chairman has so nicely 
alluded to, together with all the officers there. Of 
course, personally, I am not able to do very much 
of it. That perhaps is the first thing. That par- 
ticular part was rendered extremely difficult by the 
foreign exchanges and the care we had to devote to 
them. There again those cares, I hope, have been 
practically taken from our shoulders by your great 
nation. I say practically, but not entirely — at least 
that is my view of the matter. Certain people, great 
financiers, I believe, before I left London, thought 
that the small committee called the London Exchange 
Committee, of which I have the honor to be Chair- 



226 BALFOUR, VIYIANI AND JOFFRE 

man, might now be dissolved; that there would be 
no further need for their services. I did not agree 
with that view, thinking, and I still believe, that 
there will be ample scope for what talent they may 
possess. 

In my opinion London should not now depend en- 
tirely on the United States. They should continue, 
as far as they are able and to the end of their bent, 
to ship you gold, to sell you securities, and try by 
every means in their power to pay fairly and squarely 
the debts that they have incurred in this country. 
That will at any rate be my endeavor, and I think 
that for our own sakes it is most important that we 
should strive as far as possible to keep money here 
cheap, in order that we may borrow it from you. 
I was quite serious. Cheap money means good trade, 
if it is not too cheap, and although I do not believe, 
in a great war like this, in the saying, talking literally 
of business as usual, I do think that as far as you 
are able and it is possible, you should strive to carry 
on the great trade of this country, again not only 
for your own sakes but for ours. I will be very 
sorry, as far as our financial problems are concerned, 
if we do anything to reduce or curtail the trade of 
this great nation. I would return just for one moment 
to a statement which I heard just after the war began, 
in the House of Commons, where somebody in the 
course of a debate twitted Mr. Lloyd George, the then 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and said that although 
he was complaining of his arduous duties as Chan- 
cellor, he would not like to exchange positions with 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 227 

the German Chancellor. "Well, he accepted it, and 
seemed pleased that he was not the German Chan- 
cellor, but I am not so sure but that for the period 
of the war the English Chancellor of the Exchequer 
has more difficult problems to solve than the German 
Chancellor. 

The exchange problem does not, I fancy, at present 
trouble the German Chancellor. Well, let us wait 
till after the war, and then, I hope and believe, their 
difficulties will be increased a hundredfold more than 
ours. 

I was greatly honored by my Government in being 
allowed to come out here. It has been the dream of 
many months that I should come to the States and see 
the people of whom I had heard so much. I was sent 
here, as you all know by this time, not for my power 
of making addresses and speeches, but because it was 
considered that perhaps I knew as much of the inner 
workings of our financial efforts in London as any 
one else, and might be as able to answer questions 
and explain what we had been doing as any of my 
neighbors. 

I arrived in Washington just before the taking in 
by the Federal Reserve Bank of this vast $200,000,000 
a fortnight ago. They were good enough to go 
through with me the means they had taken, not 
only to withdraw that money from the market 
but to replace it on the market without delay. 
Gentlemen, the arrangements were so complete that 
I had not a word or a hint of a suggestion to 
give. It proves how extraordinarily complete those 



228 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

arrangements were that the money rate here in New 
York in the morning was 2 per cent, in the middle 
of the day it rose to 4 per cent, and in the evening 
it went back to 2i/2 per cent. AVhat more splendid 
financial transaction could be accomplished ? 

I have just returned from a visit to the Middle 
West, where I have interviewed and talked matters 
over with prominent bankers and other men, and 
on every hand I found them only too anxious to do 
everything in their power to facilitate the enormous 
loans which you are asking for, and of which I hope 
you will give us a part. Everj^where they are get- 
ting up committees, arranging for extra clerks, taking 
additional floor space, and doing everything that 
after my experience I could possibly have suggested. 
Indeed, from that point of view, my visit to the 
Middle West has been an absolute failure. I have 
been of no use to anybody, and I am afraid I shall 
have to say the same when I leave New York. You 
all seem to be thoroughly alive and prepared with- 
out any suggestions from me. I hope my Government 
when I get home will not ask me any pertinent ques- 
tions such as: *'Have you been of any good to any- 
body?'' 

Gentlemen, we turn to the second part of the war. 
We divide the war into three portions. That is, the 
fighting element, or, as we put it, the glorious spend- 
ing element. It is glorious spending. We have got 
to find the money for it. They have to bear the kicks, 
the blows, the wounds, and perhaps even death. We 
don't grudge them the money. We have to put up 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 229 

with smaller incomes, with much more work, and 
with much labor. But that is nothing. The army 
and the navy must be first. They must be the ones 
first to be considered. They must also be the popular 
ones. After all, what matters? We must live our 
lives, we must carry out what we are here for, and 
the best we can do, and we must not grumble. The 
third part, I am thankful to say, I have nothing 
whatever to do with. Questions have been put to me 
since I landed here on the subject, namely, what taxes 
should be levied? How the taxes should be levied? 
I am thankful to say that I have nothing to do with 
that, for the Governor of the Bank of England is 
not even consulted in such matters. 

Now, I am afraid I have delayed you a long time, 
but I would make this remark, gentlemen: Do not 
fall into the error which we did at home of under- 
rating our foe. I am afraid we did so at the begin- 
ning. Financially, I am certain that we did. Our 
foe was well prepared. They had all their economics 
well cut out, planned, and everything ready, meat 
tickets and bread tickets. If we had only taken the 
thing boldly up during the first few months of the 
war we should be in a vastly better position to-day. 
Of course, the same thing does not apply to you here 
in America, because you support yourselves and more 
than support yourselves with foodstuffs and .the other 
necessaries of life. We have to buy it all from you 
and from other countries. 

Therefore, it is very much more important for us 
to economize than for you. Still I would venture to 



230 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

remind you that nobody knows how long this war is 
to continue, and that if you are to put up the notice 
''business as usual,'' I would suggest that extrava- 
gances should not be as usual. If by any lucky chance 
the economies are not needed and the war should come 
to an end very soon, how easy will it be to slip back 
into the old way and the old luxuries. 

Gentlemen, as a great statesman or diplomatist al- 
ways has to gage the minds, the feelings, the hearts 
of the people that he has to deal with and the country 
to which he is accredited, I think it will be for all 
really intelligent business men to try to gage the 
feelings of their clients and those with whom they 
come into contact. From the beginning of this war 
I tried to gage the American mind, that sooner or 
later we should all be together. At times when that 
awful bugbear, the ''exchange" was going against us, 
and I hardly knew what to hope, I must say that 
there were times when I asked myself, Could I be 
wrong? Could I have wrongly gaged the American 
heart? No, gentlemen, I am thankful that I was 
right; that we are here and here we are to remain, 
not only the business people, but our soldiers and 
sailors, fighting shoulder to shoulder with one great 
object, namely, to bring this terrible war to a glorious 
and definite termination. 

After the meeting, the guests of honor were taken into 
the Hbrary of the Chamber, where they gathered about a 
horseshoe table with the officers and had luncheon. At the 
close of the meal Mr. Balfour was asked for a few words 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 231 

more "before he comes back after the war is won." Mr. 
Balfour said: 

The reception which we have received here has 
not merely surpassed our expectations, but has been 
positively amazing. It was not the external features 
which so much impressed us as the spontaneous ex- 
hibition of feeling from the Mayor down to the most 
humble citizen. We had some hesitating doubt as to 
the feeling entertained for us in this country ; thought 
that perhaps we had a more profound regard for the 
people of the United States than your people had for 
us. If that condition existed, it exists no longer. I 
shall go back to England and tell of my reception 
here, and my only fear is that perhaps I have not 
sufficient capacity to tell it completely. I shall tell 
them that this great republic is not only warmly but 
passionately on the side of the Allies. I believe now 
that the people of America realize that since August 
1, 1914, the fight in which we have been engaged has 
been for the highest spiritual advantage of mankind, 
without a petty or mean thought or ambition — a fight 
for the cause of civilization. 

Mr. Outerbridge then called on Mr. Choate to "pronomice 
the benediction." As Mr. Choate rose three cheers were 
proposed by George T. Wilson, for "Mr. Choate, the man 
who has cut up like a two-year-old for the last few days." 
After the cheers had been given, Mr. Choate protested that 
he had no more speeches left "in his reservoir." He man- 
aged, however, to give some humorous reminiscences of his 
experiences as Ambassador at the Court of St. James, along 
with praise of certain features of English character. 



232 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Mr. Balfour, in returning to Vincent Astor's home, where 
he went to rest till 7:30, stopped on the way to visit the 
observation platform of the Woolworth tower, escorted by 
Mayor Mitchel, Cass Gilbert, the architect of the building; 
Major General Daniel Appleton, Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the 
British Ambassador, and Dock Commissioner R. A. C. 
Smith. Police reserves kept back the crowds in Broadway 
and Barclay Street to make a lane by which the party 
could reach the entrance to the elevators. The speed of 
the "lifts" and the mechanical perfections of the building- 
were a source of marvel to the visitors, who had everything 
about the building explained to them by Mr. Gilbert, and 
the view from the top by Mayor Mitchel. 

Mr. Balfour went that evening to the house of Mr. 
Choate, where dinner was served to fifteen guests. Among 
the guests were Nicholas Murray Butler and Henri Bergson, 
the French philosopher. In Mr. Choate's library after the 
dinner Mr. Balfour and M. Bergson, at Mr. Choate's re- 
quest, talked of the immortality of the soul. 

MR. BALFOUR AT A RED CROSS BENEFIT 

Late that night Mr. Balfour, in Carnegie Hall, spoke to 
an audience that packed the place from parquet to the 
upper gallery, an audience in which were many leading citi- 
zens of New York and other parts of the country. The 
cheers that greeted him started a demonstration that lasted 
a full minute. The occasion was a benefit for the British 
Red Cross, given under the auspices of the American Com- 
mittee of the society. Days before every seat in the house 
had been sold, some of the boxes bringing as high as $1,000, 
while seats in the parquet sold at $10 and those in other 
parts of the house at proportionately high prices. It was 
estimated that the British Red Cross gained somewhere 
between $50,000 and $100,000 from the benefit. Mr. Bal- 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 233 

four was one of the patrons, and among the others were his 
colleagues on the British Commission. A more enthusiastic 
audience never assembled in Carnegie Hall. At eveiy men- 
tion of the allies and their cause a demonstration ensued. 
When moving pictures showing the actual fighting on the 
River Anere in France and the famous "tanks" in action, 
were thrown on the screen, the audience "went wild." The 
pictures were official, having been taken for the British 
Government. 

Mr. Balfour did not arrive until 11 o'clock, when he 
entered with Mr. Choate. A box in the eastern tier near 
the stage had been reserved for him. His appearance was 
the signal for a great ovation. Mme. Alda was singing 
"Rule Britannia" when he came in. As she finished, a 
large American, and then a British, flag were waved high 
over her head. Mr. Balfour was among the first to stand up 
and join in the applause that followed. He again became 
one of the leaders in a demonstration which followed the 
singing by Mme. Alda of "The Star Spangled Banner." 
In the speech that he made from his box, Mr. Balfour took 
occasion to refer gratefully to the generous welcome which 
had been accorded himself and the other members of the 
commission by the people who had crowded the streets of 
New York and cheered them at every public appearance 
they had made. These cheers, he said, would remain always 
one of their most cherished memories. He referred to the 
part America was to play in the great war, but went into 
no details, confining himself to generalities. There was a 
sincere and grateful ring to his words. No one in that vast 
audience had any doubt of the knowledge of conditions that 
lay back of what he was saying: 

What I have seen in New York yesterday and 
to-day is something that none of us who has come 



234 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

from over the seas will ever forget. The wholehearted 
sympathy on the part of every one, the expressions 
of welcome, so warm and so sincere, the genuineness 
of the good will expressed for the cause of the Allies 
and for the part of Britain in that cause, not only on 
the part of those we have met at great gatherings 
such as this, but by the splendid people who have 
cheered us in the streets as well, will never be for- 
gotten by us. 

This great gathering to-night is but another ex- 
pression of what is to-day taking place here which, in 
my opinion, constitutes one of the most glorious epi- 
sodes in the history of international relations. Amer- 
ica is throwing herself wholeheartedly into this strug- 
gle to help us in every way possible on land and sea. 
America is also giving us something else, which in 
many respects is of even greater value and more per- 
manent. I refer to her sympathy and her love. You 
are struggling with us, not only for your own country, 
but for the freedom of the whole world, and in this 
cause we shall continue fighting until success is 
achieved. 

I do not know whether the memory of this hour 
will live in the minds of this audience or not. But 
the memory of these last few hours has been firmly 
impressed upon the minds of the visiting commission. 
This linking together of the two English-speaking 
countries creates happiness not only for the present 
generation, but happiness for the generations yet un- 
born. I wish to thank the performers — to thank you 
all — for your own sympathy with our cause, and the 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 235 

manifestation of your patriotic sympathy which itself 
assures a final success for our cause. 



AT THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE AND AT 
SAGAMORE HILL 

Standing beneath entwined British and American flags 
at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Sunday morn- 
ing, May 13, the Episcopal Bishop of the Phihppines, in 
the presence of Mr. Balfour, other members of the British 
Commission and Mr. Choate, pledged America to fight for 
world democracy. Mr. Balfour and those with him sat in a 
section especially reserved within full sight of 2,200 per- 
sons. They beheld above them, in the lofty dome, flags of 
the allied nations, heard Great Britain eulogized as having 
gone to France to "save the fate of the world," listened to 
a prayer for King George V, and heard the organ blend 
with more than 2,000 voices in singing "God Save the 
King" and "America." After this service Mr. Balfour and 
Mr. Choate said their farewells to one another. Mr. 
Choate's last words, often recalled two days later, when 
his death was announced, were "Remember, we shall meet 
again to celebrate the victory." 

Late in the afternoon Mr. Balfour paid a four-hour 
visit to Colonel Roosevelt at Sagamore Hill, staying for 
tea. The trip was the result of an invitation given by 
Colonel Roosevelt at the Mayor's dinner at the Waldorf. 
Mr. Balfour was escorted to the city limits by motor cycle 
policemen and thence all the way to and from Oyster Bay 
by three ears full of Secret Service men. At Sagamore 
Hill Colonel Roosevelt took him for a walk over his estate, 
which was bright with the green of spring. At the evening 
meal the only other man was the ColoneFs son, Quentin, 
who had just enlisted as a private in the aviation corps of 



236 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the regular army. Mr. Balfour left about 10 o^clock, the 
Colonel waving him a good-by from the veranda. In New 
York he drove direct to the Pennsylvania station to join 
other members of his party on board a special train leaving 
for Washington at midnight. 

THE PRINCE OF UDINE IN NEW YORK 

When the Italian Mission came to New York, on June 
11, it found itself in a city which had a greater Italian 
population than Genoa, Florence, Venice or Messina. The 
largest of these cities, Genoa, had a population in 1911 
of 272,000, but there were now in New York 341,000 Italian- 
born people, or the same number as Palermo had in 1911, 
when Naples had 723,000, Milan 599,000, Rome 543,000, 
Turin 427,000, no other Italian city outranking New York. 
American eyes had followed with wonder, almost with in- 
credulity, the deeds of the Italian army in this war. It had 
had to fight against three allies, Austria, Germany and 
nature. These Romans of our day had performed feats in 
war which the ancient Romans had never surpassed. It 
was with Italy as with France. The world, which had 
visualized France as a volatile nation, had been dumb- 
founded to see in her all the virtues which had been sup- 
posed to be specifically characteristic of more sober na- 
tions — gravity, silence, determination, method — and the same 
virtues had been displayed in equal measure by Italy, which 
also had been visualized as a pleasure-loving nation. Italy 
fought to redeem imprisoned peoples who had been torn 
from their motherland by Austria, just as France fought 
to redeem those who had been taken captive by Germany. 
Italy's object in this war was freedom for the territory 
comprising Italia Irredenta.* 

^The New York Times. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 237 

The Italian commissioners reached New York in the 
afternoon, landing at the Battery, where the crowd was 
almost as numerous and no less enthusiastic than those 
which had welcomed the French and British Commissions 
at the same place. Despite the shortage of bunting made 
up into the national colors of Italy, there was a plentiful 
display of Italian flags, particularly in Fifth Avenue, above 
Thirty-fourth Street. On the way up from the Battery 
to the City Hall in the first car rode the Prince of Udine, in 
dark blue naval uniform; Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, 
Lieutenant di Zara, the Prince's naval aide, and Theodore 
Rousseau, secretary to the Mayor. In another automobile 
was the Marquis Macchio di Celere, the Italian Ambassa- 
dor. The party crossed Battery Place and turned up 
Broadway through a continuing tumult of cheering from 
crowds grouped in masses on the curb, blocking the door- 
ways of great office buildings, jammed on the steps of the 
Custom House and leaning from every window of tall build- 
ings. As the Prince's car came in view many Italians took 
off their hats. The cheers that greeted him were renewed 
again and again. As the crowd passed the Equitable Build- 
ing, some one sent down a shower of paper that looked like 
confetti. Streamers of ticker tape were flung into the street 
all the way to the City Hall. 

The preparations made in and around the City Hall in 
many details were similar to those made for the French 
and British guests. The Italian flag flew from the City 
Hall with the Stars and Stripes and Italian colors were 
prominent in the Court of Honor, which had been built 
opposite the front of the building. In this court 5,000 
school children, most of them of Italian parentage, were 
drawn up. Around the square on all sides were crowds, 
blocking traffic in Broadway, Park Row and Chambers 
Street — men also in skyscraper windows on Broadway and 



238 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Nassau Street, on the cornices and ledges of the Post Office, 
in the windows far up on the sides of the Woolworth 
Building. 

It was just 4 o'clock when the head of the procession 
turned into City Hall Park and filed upstairs to the re- 
ception room, decorated in evergreens, with the Italian and 
American flags draped at either side of the dais at the 
eastern end. Here they were greeted by the Mayor and by 
Guglielmo Marconi, who recalled that it was just twenty 
3^ears before that he first came to the United States to in- 
terest Americans in his experiment in wireless telegraphy, 
and by several hundred citizens who had been invited by 
the Mayor. The Prince took his stand alone on the dais 
where Marshal Joffre, M. Viviani and Mr. Balfour had 
stood a month before, and received from the Mayor and 
from Dr. Butler the greetings of New York and New 
Yorkers. Mayor Mitchel's speech brought frequent ap- 
plause, and particularly his reference to the recent Italian 
victories, which stirred vigorous cheering from his hearers, 
who included most of the leading Italian citizens of New 
York. 

Then, as spokesman for what he called "the unofficial 
citizenship," the Mayor introduced Nicholas Murray Butler. 
Dr. Butler, standing in the place occupied a month before 
by Joseph H. Choate, spoke with deep feeling as Mayor 
Mitchel had done. He referred to the happy coincidence 
that the aims and interests in both the old and new coun- 
tries among Italian-Americans were the same. There 
were cheers when he spoke of the Italian citizens of 
New York, with their still strong connections with the 
Old World, as forming "an invisible bridge over which 
ideas and accomplishments come and go." The Prince was 
cheered vigorously when Mayor Mitchel introduced him. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 239 

Responding with a bow and smile, lie drew from his pocket 
a manuscript and read his speech in excellent English. 

Mr. Mayor : In my own name and on behalf of the 
members of the Italian mission, I have the honor to 
thank you for the welcome extended to us by your 
great city. During their journey through the United 
States of America the members of the mission which, 
his Majesty the King of Italy has sent to President 
Wilson have been given the most cordial reception. 
I feel sure that the recollection of such cordiality 
will remain forever in their hearts. As for myself, 
an unfortunate illness has prevented me from accom- 
panying the mission when it went to the South and 
to the Middle West. I did not want, however, to miss 
the last part of the journey, and I am glad that I was 
able at least to join my friends in their visit to your 
city. 

The hospitality of New York is enjoyed by as many 
Italians as there are inhabitants in the largest of the 
Italian cities. Yours is really the great metropolis, 
which, while keeping faithful to the strong traditions 
of American patriotism, is assuming an always more 
and more universal character. We feel deeply moved 
by your welcome. We know that by expressing your 
feelings toward us you are expressing your feeling 
toward our country and your appreciation of the 
energy, the spirit of sacrifice and of discipline shown 
by Italy in the present war. 

Nothing is more inspiring to those who fight for 
a great cause, who suffer for a lofty ideal, than broth- 
erly sympathy expressed by friends who leave them 



240 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

and keep them in high esteem, by friends whose 
work they look forward to with entire faith. You are 
our friends and we have entire faith in your work. 

The war is becoming every day more terrible and 
is not yet nearing its end. We must win the war, 
no matter what be our sacrifice and our sorrow. All 
over America life is intense, work and production are 
feverish, but your city symbolizes the combinations 
of every kind of energy. We are sure that your 
energies will be fruitful to the purposes of the war. 
At this stage every day is precious, every mistake is 
doubly dangerous. As you are endowed with such 
a magnificent spirit of organization, you will surely 
be able to use it for the most noble aims of war, just 
as you have used it up to now for the most noble aims 
of peace. 

For the nations of the Entente the great problems 
of the war are now those connected with the produc- 
tion of food, and above all with shipping. A large 
number of new ships is what we need now above 
everything. Your enthusiasm is a guarantee of vic- 
tory. You appreciate the magnitude of the task you 
are confronted with, and you are going to take it up, 
you are going to reap new military glory, with the 
faith which your nation has in its destinies. 

Mr. Mayor, we consider the reception granted to us 
by New York, and the sincere enthusiasm which ani- 
mates your great city, not only as a promise of victory, 
but as an omen of victory, and we offer you and your 
magnificent city the most friendly and cordial greet- 
ing. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 241 

When the Prince had finished his speech, the party 
paused for a moment to allow a photograph to be taken 
and then filed downstairs to where crowds which had been 
waiting patiently for the ceremonies to end had been 
entertained by songs from school children and music from 
bands. A burst of cheers started when the Prince and 
his companions emerged, and continued as they left the 
eastern end of the City Hall Park, headed by mounted 
police, and started uptown, making their way through 
crowds which if anything seemed larger than those that 
greeted the other Allied commissioners in May. The line 
of march northward skirted the two principal Italian colo- 
nies of the city, where every one came out to see the Prince 
and his associates. From almost every window floated the 
tricolor of Italy and the American flag. 

The procession passed up Centre Street to Lafayette, and 
thence to Fourth Street. All along the line were the same 
scenes, the same cheers, the same colors, the difference only 
one of degree and not much of that. Perhaps the most 
lavish display of flags appeared on the building of the 
Progresso Itdlo- Americano, at Elm Street, but this was 
nearly matched by one on a building at Spring Street, 
which housed the Italian Consulate General, the Italian 
Savings Bank, the Order of Sons of Italy, and other 
organizations. 

At Fourth Street the party turned west and drove to 
Washington Square. Here the Italian settlements south 
of Washington Square had literally poured out thousands. 
The masses along the southern side of the square and on 
either side of the driveway through Fourth Street to the 
arch were, if possible, more thickly packed than they were 
downtown. Here had been set up another court of honor, 
with the Garibaldi statue as its center. Long blue ban- 
ners with the shields of the two nations hung from poles, 



242 BALFOUR, VIYIANI AND JOFFRE 

with pillars surrounded by clusters of palms and ever- 
greens. A semicircle, of which the chief color was red, 
ornamented with a Blashfield medallion and other decora- 
tive designs, rose behind the statue of the Liberator, who 
is in the act of drawing his sword. Crowds of school 
children, and school bands, appeared in gorgeous uni- 
forms. 

When the procession halted, the Prince and his aide 
stepped out of the first car, Mayor Mitchel and the officer 
iwith him standing by the curb, while the Prince laid a wreath 
of evergreens on the pedestal, saluted, stood a moment in 
silence contemplating the figure of the man who had played 
the most spectacular part in the unification of modem Italy, 
and then turned back to his car. After the procession 
started northward, each Italian officer as he passed saluted 
and each civilian raised his hat before the statue. Each 
lamp post bore a cluster of American and Italian flags. 
Green, white and red and medallions were seen everywhere. 
Other symbolic designs were blazoned on banners at the 
Court of Honor in front of the Public Library. Windows 
were blocked with staring clerks and salespeople all along 
the avenue. Still another crowd had gathered on the ter- 
race about the fountain at the Plaza. Hundreds were 
banked in Fifth Avenue about Sixty-first Street, where 
the commission turned to No. 5 East Sixty-first Street, the 
home of Pembroke Jones, which had been turned over for 
their use during their stay in New York. 

THE mayor's dinner AT THE PLAZA 

Mayor Mitchel gave a dinner in the evening at the Plaza 
to eighty-five local guests, with Governor Whitman as the 
chief speaker. Streets about the Plaza and in the square 
around the fountain were packed with a crowd as thick as 
any that had been seen in lower Manhattan. The decora- 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 243 

tions made a brilliant scene. A band played the Italian 
national anthem as the guests passed into the ballroom, 
which had been decorated as an Italian garden. The cheers 
of the crowds outside were so insistent that before the 
Prince and his fellow commissioners could sit down, they 
had to go out to a balcony and bow a greeting to the 
crowds below. 

The Mayor, in introducing Governor Whitman at the 
close of the dinner, laid emphasis on the energy with which 
the State of New York had led the way in preparations for 
war. Governor Whitman remarked that people of similar 
aspirations and ideals "never meet as strangers." Even 
had the past been without its record of amity, "our present 
common purpose would wdn you." A very cordial welcome 
was extended by him to the commission on behalf of the 
State. After the Governor's speech the Mayor called on the 
Prince, whose remarks were preliminary to a toast. He 
said: 

Mr. Mayor and Mr. Governor, I thank you very 
much for your so kind welcome. It is a great pleasure 
for me to be able this evening to say how thankful 
I am and how thankful all of the commission are for 
the splendid reception we have had to-day. I am 
pleased to express it this evening. We have felt to- 
day how the spirit of this great town is with us in 
this great struggle, in this great war against autoc- 
racy, this war for liberty, for justice. I shall lift my 
glass to the United States, to the President, to the 
State of New York, to the city of New York, to 
the Governor, to Mr. Mayor, and to the glorious army 
and the glorious navy of the United States that have 
now joined with us in this great war. 



244 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Mayor Mitchel then proposed a toast to the King of 
Italy, with which the dinner came to an end and at 10 
o'clock the party started for the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art, where the trustees were holding a reception. Again 
the commissioners were cheered enthusiastically by crowds 
still standing in the Plaza who had waited all through the 
two hours and a half of the dinner. A quick trip past 
cheering crowds brought the whole party to the museum 
a little after 10 o'clock. There they found outside proba- 
bly ten thousand persons, and inside a third or half of 
that number, filling the great pillared hall, packing the 
balconies and clamoring lustily for a word from the Prince. 

The persons inside included 1,299 members of Italian so- 
cieties — a gathering which embraced representatives of 
every section of society, bankers, art patrons, artists, art 
students, soldiers and sailors of the Allied countries, and 
leaders in America's efforts to forward the progTess of the 
war and of war relief work. No attempt was made to let 
guests shake hands with members of the commission. As 
they had been exhausted by their day's exertions, coming 
so soon after the close of a long trip in the Middle West, 
they stayed only about twenty minutes, and then left the 
museum cheered by a crowd within and by some thousands 
outside who had gathered on the yellow-lighted avenue. 
The Prince declared that the reception had been "wonder- 
ful, very wonderful." He could not adequately express his 
gratitude. Signor Marconi observed: "The cordiality of 
the whole people was most marked — somewhat different 
from the reception which I received when I came with my 
poor wireless invention twenty years ago." 

A LUNCHEON" BY THE MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION 

Next day pronounced enthusiasm greeted the Prince and 
other members of the mission when they entered the Grand 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 245 

Ballroom of the Hotel Astor at noon to attend a luncheon 
given by the Merchants' Association. "I thought you 
Americans attributed enthusiasm to the Latin tempera- 
ment/' the Prince remarked with a laugh as he took his 
seat beside the president of the association. The luncheon, 
in spirit and attendance, was a duplicate of those which 
marked the visits of the French and British missions. The 
cordiality, sympathy and admiration which one country 
entertained for the other marked every speech. Guglielmo 
Marconi, in the first speech he had made since the Italian 
Mission reached New York, said: 

In normal times we import about 900,000 tons of 
coal a month. We are now getting somewhat less than 
half that amount. Gentlemen, we do not want coal 
to heat our houses and our hotels throughout the bit- 
ter winter of Northern Italy. There is not a man, 
from King Victor Emmanuel to the poorest peasant 
in his Alpine hut, who would not gladly shiver and 
freeze, as hundreds of our brave soldiers have done, 
if by so doing he could help to win the war for 
democracy and liberty. No, gentlemen, we want coal, 
we must have coal, to keep our munition factories 
going, to run our railroads carrying ammunition to 
the front and food to all the scattered populations 
of the country, and to run our factories, the stoppage 
of which would mean the throwing of a million men 
out of work, to starve and increase our difficulties. 
And if we do not get this coal, and get it quick, our 
ammunition factories will have to work half time or 
stop, our trains will cease to run, diminishing the 
efficiency of the army, and even perhaps bringing 



246 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

about local famines, and hundreds of thousands of 
our people will be thrown out of work. 

Signor Arlotta, Mayor Mitchel, Nicholas Murray Butler 
and Charles E. Hughes also spoke. 

AT GARIBALDI^S HOUSE ON STATEN ISLAND 

That afternoon the Prince went to Staten Island to pay 
tribute to the memory of General Garibaldi, who in the early 
fifties found a haven in the United States, making his home 
in a little frame house that still stands on the crest of a hill 
at Rosebank. Besides making candles. Garibaldi engaged 
in a shipping enterprise from which he made a little money 
with which to build the house on the island of Caprera, that 
remained his home long afterwards. The Prince received 
a welcome such as he said he had never before witnessed. 
The police estimated that 50,000 and perhaps 100,000 Ital- 
ians took part in the demonstration, one of the most pic- 
turesque ever presented in New York. Along the State 
road over which the Prince passed on the way to the Gari- 
baldi house Italians — men, women, and children — were 
massed on each side for a mile and a half, and at every 
fifty yards there was a brass band. Each band played either 
the national anthem of America or of Italy, and everybodj^ 
waved a flag, and some two. The result was a moving pic- 
ture dominated by the red, white, and blue of America and 
the green, white, and red of Italy. 

In that great throng at least half the men were in uni- 
form. A thousand silken banners told whence they came. 
Some were from Philadelphia and others from Poughkeep- 
sie. One delegation was from Bound Brook, another from 
Trenton, and others from Mount Vernon, Yonkers and 
Bridgeport. It seemed as if hardly a city or village with- 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 247 

in 100 miles of New York had failed to send the bulk of 
its Italian population. New York, the Bronx, Brooklyn and 
Queens were represented by scores of delegations. The 
little house in which Garibaldi lived, now an Italian shrine, 
is inclosed in another and more pretentious building. In 
the rooms are still preserved some of the humble furniture 
which the Italian patriot used.^ 

To accommodate the thousands who were expected to 
journey to Staten Island every available municipal ferry- 
boat had been put into service. Even a schedule calling for 
every trip that was possible to the number of boats in serv- 
ice failed to get all the Italian to Rosebank in time. They 
were still coming in by fifties and hundreds when the 
Prince and his party arrived at 4 o'clock, and they were 
going home for some hours after the Prince had waved his 
farewells. The Government provided for the Prince one 
of the newest type of destroyers for his trip to Staten 
Island, but the fast little submarine catcher took a rounda- 
bout course to St. George, in order to afford the Prince 
an opportunity of seeing New York from all angles. So, 
instead of going direct to Staten Island, the vessel steamed 
up the Hudson to Spuyten Duyvil, thence through the creek 
and the Harlem and East Rivers, making the circuit in 
less than three-quarters of an hour. The journey, one of 
the most enjoyable as well as instructive the Prince had 
made since landing in America, took him under all the 
bridges that span the Harlem and East Rivers. 

On the steps of the Garibaldi Memorial, at Rosebank, the 
Prince made a speech in Italian, in which he told 75,000 
of his countrymen to be as loyal to the United States as 
they would be to Italy if they had remained there. He 
said: 

* The New York Times. 



248 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Before this memorial of the national hero, in this 
country which he loved so much and in this historical 
moment when the fate of Italy is at stake, I am glad 
to speak to you American and Italian citizens assem- 
bled here in one sentiment and one faith. My word 
can only be the expression of your soul, which has 
brought the dream of the hero to fruition. Let us 
hope that from this war, fought for liberty and democ- 
racy, for the same principles that gave birth to the 
great American republic, may develop an even more 
generous and humane society than the one which was 
the dream of Mazzini and the ideal of Garibaldi. 

Let us fight — the citizens of the one country as of 
the other — for this faith.. Every sacrifice we make 
will be blessed, every wound will be healed. The joy 
of seeing side by side the flags of the United States 
and Italy lies not so much in realizing that the coun- 
tries of Washington and Garibaldi are united as in 
knowing that the ideals of the two are amalgamated 
in a common cause. Eviva the United States ! Eviva 
Italia ! 

Then was presented to the Prince by the Order of the 
Sons of Italy, 50,000 lira ($8,650), as a gift from the order 
to Italian charities. Forty thousand members of the order 
from all over the state were present and let themselves be 
heard in roars of approval. 

A DINNER AT THE WALDORF 

The City's official greeting took place that night at the 
Waldorf, where every element of the city's life — political, 
professional, social, artistic and financial — was present to 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 249 

bespeak the general welcome, and to hear, incidentally, a 
stirring and hitherto untold tale of the war. Signor Mar- 
coni made public details heretofore unknown as to how 
his country's timely declaration of neutrality at the out- 
break of war had freed a million French troops, then mar- 
shaled against a possible attack by Italy. In the dead of 
night a message had reached Paris from Italy with this 
news, and before dawn French soldiers were being hastened 
north. Later these released men helped win the battle of 
the Marne. Mayor Mitchel presided, pledging to the visi- 
tors America's determination to be Italy's comrade in arms 
to the end. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler brought the house 
upstanding by mention of Theodore Roosevelt's name. The 
Colonel was unable to attend, but had invited the commis- 
sion to Oyster Bay. Signor Marconi's statement was well 
timed and dramatic. As he broke into his thrilling story 
his auditors bent forward en masse to catch every syllable 
of his narrative : 

And nov7, gentlemen, I come to what is perhaps 
one of the least well known matters in connection with 
this war, the great, the absolutely decisive influence of 
Italy's conduct at the very outbreak of hostilities in 
1914. Let me tell you a few facts concerning the 
inner political history of those fateful few days of 
July, 1914, when the fate of Europe was trembling 
in the balance. Germany did not expect us to join 
her in her savage attack on the liberties of Europe; 
she did not even care much whether we eventually 
agreed to remain neutral. Her game was a much 
deeper and more treacherous one. She wanted us to 
leave France, our great Latin sister, in doubt as to our 
intentions. 



250 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

On the morning of July 30, 1914, that is to say, one 
day before Germany declared war on Russia, and two 
days before she declared war on France, the Marquis 
de San Giuliano, who was then our Foreign Minister, 
unofficially informed the French Ambassador in Rome 
that Italy would never side with the Central Powers 
in a war of aggression. This information was imme- 
diately wired to Paris, but it was not sufficient to 
make France feel absolutely certain that Italy's atti- 
tude was favorable to her, because there was as yet 
no official declaration of neutrality on our part. 

On the 2nd of August, 1914, three days before Eng- 
land declared war against Germany, at a council of 
ministers held in Rome, Italy decided formally to 
declare her neutrality. The news was immediately 
communicated to our charge d'affaires in Paris, the 
ambassador being absent. For some reason or other 
the telegram did not reach him until 1 o'clock in 
the morning. Without a moment's hesitation, he 
went to see M. Viviani, the French Prime Minister, 
in the middle of the night. 

When he was introduced into M. Viviani 's presence, 
the latter turned pale and drew back, for he was al- 
most convinced that nothing but Italy's decision to 
join Germany would have brought the Italian charge 
d'affaires there at that hour. The revulsion of feel- 
ing when M. Viviani read the telegram was such that 
he could not hide his emotion. Within half an hour 
orders had gone forth for the mobilization for service 
in the north of nearly one million men which France 
would have had to keep on her southern and eastern 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 251 

frontier to guard against a possible attack from Italy. 

That million men helped to stem the advancing tide 
of Germans, to win the battle of the Marne, and to 
save France from being crushed by the heel of German 
militarism. 

Had there been the slightest v^^avering, the smallest 
hesitation on the part of Italy, had any Italian poli- 
tician been found to do one-tenth part of what Bis- 
marck did when he altered the wording of the famous 
Ems telegram and thus brought about the Franco- 
Prussian War, France would not have dared to with- 
draw a single man from the Italian frontier, and the 
history of the world might have been written dif- 
ferently. 

Gentlemen, is there any man who can think, in 
view of what I have just told you, that Italy's con- 
duct was not a decisive factor in the war ? 

THE LAST ITALIAN DAYS 

The entertainment of the Italian Mission began next day 
with a celebration at the City College Stadium. After- 
ward they drove to Grant's Tomb, where the Prince laid 
a wreath on the sarcophagus. Later members of the Dante 
League of America, of which Wilham Roscoe Thayer, 
author of a notable "Life of Cavour," is president, were 
received by the Prince at the Pembroke Jones residence. 

"Viva FItaha!" "Viva 1' America!" "Viva il Marconi!" 
"Viva Savoia!" — these were cries raised again and again 
by 20,000 voices in the stadium of the City College and 
from the streets, hills, and housetops around it. The ItaHan 
population of the city and suburbs seemed to have as- 
sembled in that neighborhood with one mind and was wild 



252 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

with enthusiasm. Fully 10,000 persons were in the stadium 
and as many more packed the spaces outside of it, all ex- 
plosive in their emotions, their exclamations and cheering 
ringing out spontaneously and continuously as the cere- 
monies proceeded. The decorations harmonized with the 
stadium itself in making the enclosure a fit place for a 
Roman assemblage, with its high stone seats, many Italian 
flags draped or flying from pillars and poles, festoons of 
green, great parti-colored banners behmd the stage and on 
the upper walls of the stadium long streamers of red, 
white and green. Members of Italian societies were in the 
full regalia of their orders; 200 young women were dressed 
in Italy's colors; little children were costumed as Italian 
heroes and heroines, and the historic S. P. Q. R. in letters 
of gold was on the capitals of columns. Such were bril- 
liant elements in a scene that suggested some of the 
pageantry of ancient Rome. Not the least decoration of 
all was Antonio Peruczi, 77 years old, wearing the red shirt 
in which he had fought under Garibaldi. 

When the members of the mission arrived at the stadium 
fifty bands played at the same time, with men standing 
and shouting. Every person in and near the station waved 
a flag, while hundreds threw roses in the path of the Prince 
as he walked to the stage. When the uproar had some- 
what subsided George McAneny, Chairman of the Board 
of Trustees of the City College, introduced Mayor Mitchel 
as the presiding officer. All through the proceedings thus 
far the crowd had clamored for the Prince and Signor Mar- 
coni. Mayor Mitchel explained that his recent illness would 
prevent the Prince from talking, but as the people cried 
"Viva Savoia, Viva Savoia," the Maj^or presented his 
Royal Highness, who rose and saluted with both hands. 
The people went almost mad. Then "Viva il Marconi, Viva 
il Marconi" rose from the crowd, and the inventor, proba- 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 253 

bly the most popular member of the mission with the New 
York Italians, rose and saluted. Mme. Frances Alda sang 
the "Star Spangled Banner'^ and "Rule Britannia," Leon 
Rothier sang the "Marseillaise," and the Metropolitan 
Opera House chorus, accompanied by the Metropolitan or- 
chestra, under the direction of Maestro Giulio Setti, sang 
the Hymn of Garibaldi. 

A concert given at Carnegie Hall that evening was one 
of the most elaborate in the memory of New York's music 
lovers. There was, first of aU, an orchestra of ninety 
pieces, under the direction of Oscar Spirescu. The famous 
Italian song, "Inno di Garibaldi," was sung by Mary Car- 
son. Mile. Madeleine D'Espinoy, soprano of the Opera 
Comique of Paris, sang "Depuis le Jour." Great applause 
greeted a chorus of sailors from a Russian warship, who 
sang Ukrainian folk-songs. Leon Rothier of the Metro- 
politan Opera brought the house to its feet when he sang 
the "Marseillaise." 

The second half of the program began with selections 
by the Russian Balalaika Orchestra, directed by Sunia 
Samuels. Thamara Swirskai and M. Papatovitch gave sev- 
eral Russian dances, after which the audience was enter- 
tained by the Metropolitan Opera ballet. Mile. Andree Bar- 
lette of the Theatre Frangaise recited "Les Femmes Fran- 
caises." "The Hymn of New Russia" was sung by Mme. 
Clara Pasvolsky. "Our America," written by Miss Mor- 
gan Harrison, was sung by a chorus of 100, with the 
audience joining in. Paul Keferm 'cellist, and Salvatore de 
Stefano, harpist, were also on the program. "The Star 
Spangled Banner" was sung by Lois Patterson Wessitsh, 
with the organ, chorus, and orchestra. Girls dressed in Rus- 
sian and Italian costumes sold programs.^ 

A striking feature of the program was the sending of 

* The New York Times. 



254 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

a message to the French front. A telegraphic apparatus, 
connected with wireless, was set up on the stage and 
the message sent while the audience listened to the dots 
and dashes: 

The friends of France, Italy, and the other allied 
nations, assembled this evening in Carnegie Hall, send 
their fraternal greetings and their fervent wishes for 
a complete victory to all — Generals, officers and sol- 
diers — who, with unparalleled heroism are now fight- 
ing for the holy cause of civilization and liberty in 
the world. 

Members of the Italian Mission spent June 15 in Boston, 
except that Signor Marconi remained in New York in or- 
der to visit a Public School in an Italian district on the 
upper east side that bore his name. He went to this school 
that day and talked to the boys, not only as Italians to 
Italians, but as an Italian to Allies. The streets were 
crowded for blocks with people of the neighborhood, mostly 
Italians. Those who could not find places in the street 
overflowed on fire-escapes up to the top floors of tenements 
and on the Elevated railway steps and platforms. Each 
member of a family was out — ^tiny children, old men and 
women — and each with a flag to wave. All who could do 
so got into the sehoolhouse, but others gathering in great 
numbers waited until the exercises were over and Signor 
Marconi came out to review a parade of school children. 
Giuseppe D'Andrea, a boy in the school, made a speech of 
welcome to the inventor, booming it forth in careful Eng- 
lish, speaking again and again the word "Welcome," with 
a strong accent on the last syllable. Bands belonging to 
street cleaners played their loudest. Flowers of red, green 
and white were handed by a little girl to Signor Marconi. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 255 

Signer Marconi's speech was short and he spoke slowly. 
Looking- down into the face of first one boy and then an- 
other, he spoke of the joy it was to him to see so many of 
his own nationality being trained as these were to meet 
their duties as citizens of this country. He said: 

We are living in stirring times, and the most im- 
portant thing is to increase efficiency for service to 
the community, not only to win this war, but to be 
ready for the era of peace for which we are fighting. 
What is this war all for ? To prepare a better world 
for you to live in. I exhort you to prepare to take 
the great inheritance which will be yours. 

THE WELCOME TO THE RUSSIANS 

On July 6 New York gave its first official welcome to 
free Russia, when the War Mission, headed by Ambassador 
Bakhmetieff, landed at the Battery. It was a welcome un- 
restrained in cordiality and good-fellowship. The immense 
crowd that gathered in Battery Park began cheering as 
soon as the sirens of harbor craft had announced the ar- 
rival of the Russians by ferry from across the river. 
For spontaneity and genuine enthusiasm, the ovation, as it 
continued up Broadway to the City Hall, was equaled only 
by the reception given to M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre. 
After the ceremony at the City Hall the envoys drove 
northward through streets still flanked with cheering throngs 
to the residence of Adolph Lewisohn, on upper Fifth Ave- 
nue, where they were to make their home during their stay. 

Ambassador Bakhmetieff- smooth shaven, middle-aged, 
and a trifle corpulent, might pass for a Hoosier banker or 
a manufacturer of Colonial stock, shrewd, sensible and 
completely democratic. He and his associates were met 



256 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

at the Battery by two companies of Russian soldiers in 
khaki and sailors in white blouses and black trousers, all 
clean, strapping young men. Everywhere were Russian 
flags and flags of the Allies. Here and there in the back- 
ground were the blood-red banners of the revolution, some 
of them inscribed with strange characters, most of which 
hailed democratic Russia, while others were reminders of a 
bitter past. The police had little to do but enjoy the spec- 
tacle and gallop in the wake of the parade, which was led 
by a platoon of cavalry. 

At the City Hall the Aldermanic chamber was crowded 
with members of the citizens' committee and guests, and the 
galleries filled with excited, cheering citizens, mostly Rus- 
sians. Ambassador Bakhmetieff stood alone in the center 
of the dais, with his associates below on either side. It 
was the exact spot where Marshal Joffre had stood and 
saluted in recognition of the plaudits of the crowd gathered 
about him. Above was an escutcheon, bearing the head of 
the Goddess of Liberty, with Russian eagles perched on 
her shoulder. The white, blue and red of the old Russian 
flag prevailed in the decorations, both within and without 
the Hall. The red flag of the revolutionists was not here in 
evidence. 

Mayor Mitchel met the party as they entered the cham- 
ber, and when the cheering subsided, delivered an address 
of welcome. Martin W. Littleton, in speaking for the citi- 
zens of New York, predicted the downfall of all auto- 
cratic power and declared that America was pledged to 
fight with the Allies "until the last Kaiser of all the con- 
federated Kaisers is scourged from his empire of abso- 
lutism and assassination. The monarchy, the empire, the 
kingdom," he said further, "is gone never to return. Kings, 
kaisers, and czars, when they reign in future, shall reign 
even as a child reigns in a nursery, playing with dumb 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 257 

images of power, brandishing a glittering blade of tin, or 
presiding with mock gravity over empty effigies." Am- 
bassador Bakhmetieff said, in part: 

I can scarcely express the emotion and sincere 
gratitude I feel for the brotherly welcome in the 
hearty reception which has been accorded to us by this 
greatest of the world's cities. This enthusasm is the 
joy of America that a new democracy has been born. 
The deep feelings that overwhelm us all here present 
are the highest expression of the true friendship 
which has always existed between the two great na- 
tions, and which we have come now as messengers of 
Russia's freedom to express. So momentous is the 
present hour that our two nations have extended to 
each other their brotherly hands in this world strug- 
gle. The United States, the far distant oversea coun- 
try, has joined the ranks of the nations which are 
fighting for justice and has raised the same banner of 
lofty human ideals that animate the people of Russia. 
Liberty and democracy, such are the challenges of the 
Russian revolution, such are the aims which our great 
republic is seeking to attain for all nations. 

AN EVENING MASS MEETING AT CARNEGIE HALL 

After a dinner given by Mayor Mitchel at the Ritz- 
Carlton, the day of greetings to the Russians was closed 
with a mass meeting at Carnegie Hall, where five thousand 
persons applauded in the auditorium, and thousands who 
banked the streets on the outside continued the demonstra- 
tion. At the opening of the meeting. Colonel Roosevelt 
and Samuel Gompers came to a violent altercation over 
bloody race riots a few days before in East St. Louis. By 



258 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

long persistence Mayor Mitchel at last succeeded in restor- 
ing order, but for several moments before he regained con- 
trol of the meeting Mr. Gompers and the Colonel were on 
their feet, shaking their fingers at each other and shouting 
exclamatory words which were lost in the mighty roar that 
filled the hall. The Colonel began it, just before making 
his speech of welcome to the commission, when he took oc- 
casion to say several burning things concerning the riots. 
After that he undertook to make his address to the Rus- 
sian commission, but Mr. Gompers refused to ignore his 
violent remarks and replied to them vigorously. The Mayor 
then stepped forward to introduce Ambassador Bakhmetieff, 
but Colonel Roosevelt intervened. "May I say a word?" 
he asked sharply, and plunged into a further denunciation 
of the riots, aiming his remarks more at Mr. Gompers 
than at the audience. A shout now went up that was 
high and angry. As Colonel Roosevelt proceeded, the yells 
of the crowd became so deafening that they drowned out 
entirely his remarks, and so he walked over to where Mr. 
Gompers was sitting and shaking his finger in his face, 
spoke directly to him. Mr. Gompers replied heatedly, but 
his words were lost in the noise that filled the hall, while 
the police looked about them uneasily. The Russian visitors 
were plainly astounded. When the two men finally re- 
sumed their seats, both were extremely ruffled.^ Ambas- 
sador Bakhmetieff, who was now allowed to speak, declared 
that the crisis had passed in Russia and that a free people 
were on the way to a victory which would guarantee the 
permanence of their freedom. He added: 

The fate of the future will depend on whether 
Russia will emerge from this world's struggle as a 
firm democracy, solid and majestic in its democratic 

* The New York Tribune. 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 259 

consciousness, supported by the gallantry of its arms, 
or whether the Eastern country will succumb in its 
internal task of political reconstruction, or will col- 
lapse in consequence of insufficient supplies or the 
invalidism of arms. In this dilemma lies the source of 
the enthusiasm of your greeting. But here are as well 
the causes of grave thought and the melancholic 
sorrow of your smile. 

Do people realize the magnitude of events which 
have happened? Do they in a proper way conceive 
the deepness and breadth of the cataclysm which has 
taken place in Russia? Do they really expect that 
the process of transition of 180,000,000 human beings 
from practically a state of slavery to the most demo- 
cratic and unrestricted form of existence, a process 
comprising the complete reorganization of political 
and social life, could occur without occasional dis- 
order and outbursts of civil strife? 

The whole has to settle. Things have to take their 
place — lose their accidental postures. This process of 
settlement needs time; needs historical treatment — 
severe, implacable, but unavoidable. 

I am glad to state that in a large measure the 
period of misunderstanding — I would say confusion — 
is over. The splendid advance in Galicia has been 
the best answer to all rumors of separate peace. The 
achievements of Kerensky and of Brusiloff at the 
head of a democratic army have demonstrated that a 
democratic army can fight bravely and with the best 
of achievements. 



260 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

ANOTHER DAY^S FESTIVITIES 

Next day the Russian Mission was entertained by Mayor 
Mitehel at a luncheon in Claremont Inn on Riverside Drive 
at which prominent citizens were present. The northern 
veranda of the inn, where about 125 were seated, was deco- 
rated with American flags. After luncheon the Russians 
witnessed an exhibition by the New York Fire Department 
in the City College Stadium and were taken for a tour of 
the city's park system, ending at the Mall in Central Park, 
where they were welcomed by a crowd of 20,000. As far 
as the eye could see, the avenues leading to the Mall were 
packed with people. Long approaches to the bandstand had 
been decorated with the flags of the Allies. Jiist enough 
breeze blew over the hill to make it pleasant. A mighty 
cheer arose as the figure of the Ambassador was seen com- 
ing through the lines of police, the Ambassador waving 
his hand in friendly salutation. In opening the exercises. 
Park Commissioner Cabot Ward said that it was pecul- 
iarly fitting to welcome the representatives of the new 
democracy in a park which included a spot closely asso- 
ciated with the American Revolution. 

In the evening a vast audience assembled in Madison 
Square Garden at a meeting in which forty-eight Russian 
societies were represented. The interior of the garden was 
decorated in red — red at the ceiling, red about the balconies, 
red about the boxes, and red on the platform. High above 
the platform, conspicuous against the red, hung the white 
and blue Zion flag. There were banners everywhere. Some 
of the inscriptions were "Long Live the Provisional Rus- 
sian Government," "Long Live the Russian Fleet," "Wel- 
come, the First Ambassador of Free Russia," "Long Live 
the Russian Revolutionary Army." 

When the Ambassador and his party arrived, about 8 :30, 



VISITS TO NEW YORK 261 

the crowd rose in a roar of greeting. Thousands of red 
flags fluttered, and the gi'eat audience cheered. Mr. Bakh- 
metieff walked to the platform, waved his hand several times, 
and then seizing a bunch of red carnations on the speakers' 
stand, leaned out over the railing, his face aglow with joy, 
and led the cheering. The band played the new Russian 
national hymn, and the Ambassador helped sing it. It was 
fully twenty-five minutes before the crowd could be quieted. 
Ambassador Bakhmetieff began his address by calling for 
a rousing cheer for the Russian sailors "who helped to 
save the revolution." Repeatedly he called for cheers for 
the revolutionary army, and repeatedly they were given. 
"Just as the revolution saved Russia," said he, "so did the 
army save the revolution." He spoke in Russian and was 
interrupted frequently by tumultuous cheers which lasted 
fully five minutes. He said he had brought to the exiles 
who had suffered terribly under the old regime, a message 
of love and gratitude from their native land, "now glow- 
ing in the realization of that great dream to which they 
had all aspired." He described the critical moments of the 
revolution, the economic, political, and social disorganiza- 
tion which necessarily followed the overturn of the old 
regime. For a time it seemed as though the revolution 
might prove a failure, that the obstacles were too great; 
but the moment of salvation came. This was when Cere- 
telli, Skobeleff and Tchernoff united and formed the coali- 
tion which strengthened the Provisional Government and 
put the young nation on a solid foundation. It all seemed 
like a dream, an impossible dream, but in a few months the 
world would see the Russian Republic realizing its full 
power of creative strength. 



V 

IN NEWBURGH AND WEST POINT 

MARSHAL JOFFRe'S VISIT 

Marshal Joffre on May 11 (which was during his visit 
to New York) left the city for the day, accompanied by 
the military members of the French Commission, in order 
to make a visit to West Point, including a short stay at 
Washington's Headquarters near Newburgh. At New- 
burgh the visitors were made the official guests of New York 
State, and from there went to West Point. Marshal Joffre 
was greeted at Newburgh with cheers from thousands. At 
Washington's Headquarters, which stands to-day practically 
the same place that it was in 1784, and overlooks the river 
a short distance below the town, Governor Whitman ex- 
tended the official welcome and pledged all the resources 
of the State to the cause of the Allies. Marshal Joffre re- 
ceived here from the hands of a little girl a large gold 
medal, commemorating his visit, that had been bought with 
a fund made up from dimes contributed by children. 
From Justice Pendleton, of the Supreme Court, he re- 
ceived official notification of his election to honorary mem- 
bership in the Society of the Cincinnati. This was the first 
time in history that a person, not a descendant of a Revo- 
lutionary soldier, had ever been elected to membership in 
this order. Marshal Joffre replied to Governor Whitman 
as follows : 

262 



IN NEWBURGH AND WEST POINT 263 

I thank you for your generous words and for the 
expressions of sympathy and deep feeling expressed 
in this splendid reception by the State of New York 
to my country. I realize that this place where 
we are assembled is a place of great memories, 
a place where Washington meditated over what 
he had done and what he had to do in the future. 
What you have said about the soldiers of France has 
deeply affected me. I thank you — first for my coun- 
try and then for myself. I bid you adieu. 

The gold medal given by the children of Newburgh was 
two and one-half inches in diameter. On one side was 
shown Washington's Headquarters, on the other an inscrip- 
tion. Marshal Joffre then went to West Point, where he 
passed most of the afternoon. He had a simple luncheon 
with officers of the regular army, all West Point graduates, 
and most of whom spoke French; motored through the 
beautiful wooded Highlands behind the point, and when it 
was all over said that so long as he might live his after- 
noon at West Point would be one of his dearest and most 
cherished memories. "I have not had in these last three 
years," said he to Colonel John Biddle, Superintendent of 
the Academy, "very many opportunities to enjoy myself 
and be happy, but to-day here at beautiful West Point I 
have been happy." He seemed as carefree as a schoolboy. 
"He has been so happy that it's a pity he has to go so 
soon," said one of his staff officers. 

A finer day could not have been asked for. All that 
morning the whole reservation had been on tip-toe, so to 
speak, in anticipation of the coming of the highest ranking 
field commander in the world. Other great soldiers from 
foreign lands, among them Kitchener, had been officially 



264 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

received at West Point and had reviewed the West Point 
cadets, but never before had the cadets been reviewed by a 
Marshal of France. There were no decorations. West 
Point was, as it is on every other day in the year, just 
West Point and nothing more. 

When the special train arrived at the little station at the 
foot of the hill, one saw drawn up the Black Troopers of 
the regular army stationed at West Point, every one of 
them a veteran of the Ninth or Tenth regular cavalry. As 
the head of the cavalry appeared over the crest of the 
hill, a battery of field artilleiy, stationed near the Battle 
Monument, began to thunder out the Marshal's salute of 
seventeen guns. The entire Corps of Cadets, to the num- 
ber of 600, was in parade formation and in single file, 
the line of gray-coated young men forming a great semi- 
circle which extended from the old to the new barracks. 
The West Point band, massed on the plain in front of 
the barracks, played the "Marseillaise." Of the cadets 
whom the Marshal saw, perhaps 200 would be fighting in 
France before another year rolled around. "It is splendid 
and wonderful," Marshal Joffre exclaimed, as he looked 
into the faces of that long line. 

For a moment he stopped at the historic house which 
has been the residence of West Point Superintendents from 
the days of Robert E. Lee to the present. At 1 o'clock 
the army luncheon was served in the officers' mess hall 
in the club building, where awaiting him were the tactical 
and academic staffs of the Academy, everj- arm of the 
service represented. The Marshal felt himself immediately 
at home. Lieutenant de Tessan stood by, expecting to be 
called into service as an interpreter, but practically every 
officer present could converse with Marshal Joffre in his 
native tongue. The meal was served on a single long table 
that reached almost the full length of the room, where 



IN NEWBURGH AND WEST POINT 265 

everybody sits close, and every meal is a family gathering, 
the waiters, Filipinos, as noiseless as they are efficient. At 
this table, and to this kind of meal, the great Mai-shal and 
his staff sat down. He was at the right of Colonel Biddle, 
who sat at the head of the table. Opposite him was Colonel 
Fabry. The company remained at the table more than an 
hour and a half. More than 5,000 persons had by this 
time arrived at West Point, two-thirds of them in auto- 
mobiles, hundreds going up from New York. Never before, 
it was said, had so many automobiles been standing at West 
Point at one time. 

It was 2:49 when the shrill tones of bugles announced 
that Marshal Joffre and his escort were about to leave the 
mess hall and review the corps. As he was escorted to the 
reviewing field, the cheers that greeted him were such as 
West Point hears only on big athletic occasions when West 
Point has won a game. Across the great parade green passed 
company after company of cadets, each marching in per- 
fect alignment and every man as erect and as soldierly as 
Koehler, the "king of physical trainers," could make him. 
From somewhere a company would suddenly appear and 
march across the field. A moment later another would 
come from the opposite direction, and then another would 
come, until eight were on the plain at the same time, some 
going this way, others going that, each unconsciously, it 
seemed, performing all sorts of military evolutions. Time 
and again Marshal Joffre uttered an enthusiastic word of 
praise. All this time a band was playing, sometimes an 
American, sometimes a French air. 

For fifteen minutes the maneuvers lasted, and then the 
corps formed in regimental front for review. Marshal 
Joffre stepped foi-ward until he stood alone three paces in. 
front of Colonel Biddle and others of the reviewing escort. 
From end to end along the whole line Marshal Joffre 



266 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

slowly walked, and looked into the eyes of every cadet. 
The look was serious, but at the same time sympathetic. As 
he returned to his post, the crowd gave him a great ova- 
tion, and then the eight companies went stepping briskly 
by in company front, their alignment perfect. The Mar- 
shal's face was a study as they passed by. There was real 
expression, something like eloquence, or high command, in 
the salute he gave to every company commander as he 
passed at the head of his unit. In less than half an hour 
it was all over. 

"I have always understood," said Marshal Joffre to Colo- 
nel Biddle afterwards, "that the United States Military 
Academy was the greatest military school in the world, 
and after what I have seen here this afternoon, I realize 
that the academy is more than worthy of its great repu- 
tation." 

Following the review the Marshal was taken for an au- 
tomobile drive around the reservation. He saw the beau- 
tiful chapel on the mountain, had a glimpse of the old ceme- 
tery where for more than a hundred years West Pointers 
have found their last resting place, saw spots where Wash- 
ington had stood in the days of Lafayette and the Revolu- 
tion ; in fact, had at least a glimpse of everything of inter- 
est in the West Point territory. 

At 3 :30 he left the enclosure to return to New York, the 
entire corps parading once more as a farewell tribute. 
Again and again he bowed in acknowledgment of the 
honor. The Black Horsemen cantered ahead of his auto- 
mobile on the way down to the station, the Superintendent 
and other officers following. Until the train disappeared 
around the curve that leads to Highland Falls all West 
Point stood at attention/ 

* The New York Times. 



IN NEWBURGH AND WEST POINT 267 

On the way to New York Lieutenant de Tessan told the 
newspapermen how happy his chief had been at West 
Point. "That corps is simply wonderful," said he, "and 
the Marshal considers it as fine a body of young men as 
there is in the world. They are already officers and are 
ready even now for service. Of course, they would need 
a little further instruction in some phases of war as devel- 
oped in Europe in the last three years, but they would catch 
on quickly, for they are West Pointers. The Marshal will 
never forget to-day at West Point, and the same is true of 
every man of his staff who accompanied him. The officers 
were splendid comrades. What more can we say than 
thatr 

When these ceremonies were over, it was learned that, 
after the cadets had passed the Marshal in review, he was 
heard to utter, to the surprise of a West Point officer near 
him, the word "Bully!" which occasioned much merriment 
when the incident was narrated to others. It was inferred 
that the use of the word was a consequence of a long con- 
versation he had had the night before in the Frick mansion 
with Colonel Roosevelt, whose use of this word was now 
historic. 

GENERAL BRIDGES AT WEST POINT 

Next day Lieutenant General Bridges, ranking military 
member of the British Commission, followed Marshal 
Joffre's example and quietly slipped out of New York for a 
journey to West Point, where he spent the day as the 
guest of Colonel Biddle. West Point's famous squadron 
of Black Troopers was again lined up at the station when 
he arrived and the corps of cadets paraded in front of the 
barracks as the automobile arrived on the plain. General 
Joffre, greatly to his regret, had been able to spend only 
something less than four hours at West Point, but General 



268 BALFOUR, VIVIMTI AND JOFFRE 

Bridges stayed the whole day. He met every officer on 
duty at the Academy, reviewed the corps and inspected the 
buildings. In the afternoon he met all the cadets in the 
Cullum Memorial Hall and made an address to them. As 
in the case of Marshal Joffre, West Point had planned no 
formal welcome, but instead received General Bridges as a 
brother in arms and an ally in the war. During and 
after the review, General Bridges expressed admiration 
for the efficiency of the corps, and thus echoed the words 
of Marshal Joffre. 



VI 

IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 

MARSHAL JOFFRE IN BOSTON 

From the moment when he stepped from his train at the 
South Station in Boston, on the morning of May 12, mitil 
he departed for Canada that night. Marshal Joffre was 
applauded continuously. Crowds massed along the streets 
and, heedless of frequent showers, accorded him one of 
the most enthusiastic greetings ever given to a popular idol 
in that city. From the legislators at the State House, the 
Faculty and students of Harvard, and from leading busi- 
ness and professional men assembled at a banquet given 
by the State, his welcome was everywhere unstintedly cor- 
dial. On the Common, where perhaps 100,000 persons 
gathered, he was told that school children of Boston and 
New England desired to present through him a fund for 
the care of French children whose fathers had died for 
France. This sum had reached $175,000 and contributions 
were still pouring in. 

At Harvard, surrounded by a brilliant throng in academ- 
ic robes and military uniforms, he was invested by Presi- 
dent Lowell with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 
President Lowell said that his "calm courage at the Marne 
wrung from defeat a victory that saved France, and with 
France the world." Later he was driven to the Stadium, 
where he saluted the Harvard Regiment and received six 
French army officers who, wounded in the war, had re- 

269 



270 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

cently come over and been active as military instructors 
for Harvard students. At a banquet he announced in a 
short speech that this would probably be his last public 
appearance in an American city: 

At the end of our stay in your wonderful country, 
it is with deep regret that we take our leave. I want 
to tell you how intensely we feel the warm personal 
sympathy and kindness which we have met on every 
hand. We are obliged to leave Boston and the neigh- 
boring States that are so very dear to us for what 
our forefathers did here. 

After being the principal figure at 'a joint legislative ses- 
sion at the State House, Marshal Joffre on the same day 
was the guest at a luncheon in Faneuil Hall, and later led 
a parade of National Guard companies and high school 
cadets through streets along which places had been reserved 
for thousands of school children. 

MARSHAL JOFFRE IN MONTREAL 

Marshal Joffre left that night for Montreal. As Marshal 
of France, he was more to French Canadians than even a 
Canadian hero could have been. He an-ived a few min- 
utes before 11 o'clock a.m. Close to half a million peo- 
ple lined the streets, squares and parks to greet and honor 
him. In a mass of flags and streamers there sounded over 
the city the noise of bells and human voices mingled with 
the hoarse shouts of motor horns. Such a welcome Mon- 
treal had never given to any man within modern memory. 

With all the promptitude of the soldier trained to lose 
no time even in non-essentials, Marshal Joffre on arrival 
got into his blue overcoat at the station and settled himself 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 271 

back in the reception automobile with the air of one confi- 
dently ready for the next move. With his strong hand that 
expressed capability he made those graceful salutes so 
familiar in pictures and repeated them again and again. 
His penetrating, steady eyes seemed even to be gathering- 
information for use in wider fields than those outlined by 
the clamoring masses who represented almost the entire 
population of Montreal. The day was made such a holi- 
day as had not been known in years. He appeared, as 
he had done everywhere else, with the manner of one who 
had come to see, rather than with the bearing of one who 
had come to be seen. Gravely and unconsciously he ac- 
knowledged plaudits and then surveyed each assemblage 
with sweeping glances from side to side as far out as 
his range of vision could extend. 

The first greetings offered at the station by Mayor Mar- 
tin and General Wilson were brief, and soon the proces- 
sion was on its way up Windsor Street, to make the long 
round of the city. Along Dorchester Street cheers gTew 
and collected in force, culminating in a full-throated wel- 
come thundered out by returned Canadian soldiers who had 
congTegated about the Khaki League, where the crowd had 
been stimulated to fresh outbursts. From that time on, a 
deep-toned vocal adulation attended the car wherein sat 
the grave and observant soldier. 

On Fletcher's Field the expanse of men, women and 
children stretched as far as the eye could see. Long before 
the Marshal and his party arrived, people had collected 
there, hurrying on bicycles, and in carriages, and running 
on foot in their anxiety to secure promising points of van- 
tage. It was estimated that 200,000 persons were in that 
neighborhood — soldiers in close formation, in the kilt of 
Highlanders, picturesquely strung against men in khaki 
uniforms. Mount St. Louis Cadets, religious brothers in 



272 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

black cassocks, and civilians in numbers impossible to 
count. On a platform a little girl presented Marshal Joffre 
with a bouquet, this platform forming the saluting base, 
and erected near the slope of the mountain. An address, 
illuminated on white parchment, was presented to him, but 
at the request of the Marshal, without being read.* After 
a brief review, Marshal Joffre gave out his message to 
Canada in a half -minute speech, made to the officers. 

I am glad to see you, as you are the representa- 
tives of the forces v^hich have sent so many troops 
to the front — troops, unfortunately, of v^hich many 
have died. You have sent many overseas, and I feel 
sure you will continue to send more, for men are 
needed, badly needed. 

A State luncheon was spread at the Ritz-Carlton, where 
the acting Premier, Sir George Foster, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 
the Provincial Prime Minister, Sir Lomer Gouin, and ec- 
clesiastical, military, political, and civil dignitaries ex- 
pressed the welcome and gratitude of Canada and the Al- 
lies to Marshal Joffre and the soldiers of France. At 
luncheon, his reply to a toast was: 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the kind words you 
have said to me, and I thank you, gentlemen, with 
all my heart for the warmth of the reception you have 
given me, and I can assure you that the acclamations 
with which you have greeted me will be heard in 
France. I know the services rendered by Canada in 
France. Your soldiers have fought beside our soldiers 

*The Montreal Star. 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 273 

and many have died in the fight we are waging. They 
have always shown indomitable courage, and in them 
Canada has done her duty. I have just received a 
despatch from the French Government informing me 
that they have destowed the Legion d'llonneur on 
Major-General Fiset and on Brigadier-General A. E. 
Labelle. These will come to Canada by the usual 
means, and I am sorry that I am not in a position to 
give them now myself to the gentlemen who have 
given such signal service as to win this decoration. 

Your Canadian soldiers have won the admiration 
of France. I have seen your men in action ; they are 
courageous ; they are indomitable and marvelous ; they 
despise death and their bravery is only equaled by 
that of the soldiers of France. 

Gentlemen, I thank you for the demonstration you 
have given me, and I am happy that I have been able 
during my stay on this continent to come up to this 
great city of Montreal for a few hours to meet a 
people who show us so warmly that we in France have 
a place in their affections. All I can say is, and I 
say it with all my heart, "Vive la Canada.'' 

Marshal Joffre, on McGill Campus, came face to face 
with men who had served under him in France. Some 
limped, the arms of others were disabled or gone, their uni- 
forms war-worn. To the tune of the fife, the throb of the 
drum and the cheers of the crowd, these men swung through 
the gate leading to the Campus with all the enthusiasm 
which had taken them "over the top" on the day when they 
got their wounds. Four hundred of them, back from the 



274 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

front, bad come to be seen by, and to see, "Papa" Joffre. 
They lined up in review formation, one lone Australian 
bat peeping above the familiar maple leaf caps. Behind 
came carriage after carriage bearing men unable to walk. 
Horses seemed to know whom they were drawing, since 
they stepped out more proudly when the cheers of onlook- 
ers reached their ears. 

M. VIVIANI IN OTTAVt^A 

Canada, in ofifieially welcoming M. Viviani to Ottawa, the 
capital of the Dominion, on May 12, extended him the un- 
precedented honor of addressing its Parliament as a for- 
eigner. Later, by a cheering vote, it was ordered that his 
speech, "so full of heart and fire," be preserved in the Do- 
minion's records. Members of both Houses, many of whom 
had sons at the front, cheered him enthusiastically and joined 
in singing the "Marseillaise" and "God Save the King." 
After this ceremony he was a guest of the Duke of Devon- 
shire, the Governor General, at Rideau Hall, and later was 
driven through flag-decked streets, cheered by enthusiastic 
crowds. Following is the official translation of his speech : 

As has been said by your Speaker, Mr. Rainville, in 
his eloquent address, v^e could not possibly have passed 
so close to your country without having an ardent 
v^ish to visit it and to pay our respects to its citizens, 
vv^ith whose history our own is so intimately con- 
nected. 

Hardly had we reached Canada than we, the mem- 
bers of the French delegation, were the object of the 
most enthusiastic welcome. And as a crowning suc- 
cess, gentlemen, you were so kind as to confer on my 
fellow-citizens and myself the supreme honor of a 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 275 

reception within the precincts of this House, and there 
could be no greater boon, no higher honor, no greater 
joy, than this provisional adoption into your com- 
munity. 

You may rest assured that our fellow-citizens in 
far away France, when they are apprised to-morrow 
or the day after, of the honor which has been con- 
ferred upon us, will have towards you a high feeling 
of gratitude. 

You have just requested us, Mr. Speaker, not to 
forget the reception now tendered to us, and through 
us, to France; allow me, Sir, to thank you. That 
debt of gratitude which we owe to your great country, 
and which the great historical events in which we 
have participated in common, can only have the effect 
of increasing — that debt impressed us particularly on 
that day when we saw passing through the streets 
of Paris your admirable Canadian soldiers proudly 
bearing on their helmets the Maple Leaf. At that 
tragic hour we realized that your motto of former 
days — ''I remember" — was no vain formula, no mere 
catchword. 

Yes, you have remembered, and indeed it is some- 
thing that strikes one with admiration to witness how 
this feeling of gratitude, as a rule a personal feeling 
lying in the depths of the human heart and con- 
science, diffuses itself throughout democracies and 
becomes a collective feeling which makes for the 
greatness of the nation as a whole. I remember, and 
we have proof that you have also remembered. First 
of all, your generosity towards France is unfathom- 



276 BALFOUR, VIVIANI ANT5 JOFPRE 

able. Of course, I could not but omit important facts 
and be perhaps unfair were I to attempt an enumera- 
tion of your generous deeds, and of all that you have 
done for France : field hospitals without number ; the 
hospital at St. Cloud, in which you have reserved 
1,300 beds for French patients, and other hospitals 
everywhere established with a staff of Canadian nurses 
and medical superintendents. 

I need not point especially to the supreme sacrifice, 
to which you have just given a pious thought in 
recalling that some members of this House have fallen 
at the front in this holy cause; that some are held 
prisoners in Germany, that you gentlemen of the 
Parliament of Canada have given fifty of your sons 
who, without hesitation, have gone over to resist in the 
name of truth and justice the most formidable ava- 
lanche which barbarity has ever let loose on the civil- 
ized world. 

Yes, Sir, your Canadians have fought along with 
English and French troops, without paying any heed 
to racial differences. Under the flags of all the Allies 
they have all shown a similar courage. It must not 
be forgotten that in the month of February of 1915, 
at Ypres, in the north of France, near the Belgian 
frontier, in a country devastated by floods, after the 
terrific assault of the German soldiers by means of 
asphyxiating gases — Germany, the country that has 
caused science to swerve from its true ends, and, in- 
stead of pouring its benefits upon mankind, has visited 
humanity with manifold evils and crimes — that same 
Germany has had to meet your Canadian soldiers. 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 277 

On that terrific day, your sons, rising in their might, 
saved the situation. 

And throughout many battles, throughout numerous 
and recent victories, the soldiers of Canada stood up 
heroically against the foe. Even at this moment, we 
have before our eyes your boys, so alert, so athletic, 
so brave, the first to storm, victoriously carrying their 
flag to those heights of Vimy which were reputed to 
be impregnable. 

Hail, to all these soldiers; let us bow our heads 
reverently before those who fight, those who suffer 
and those who have laid down their lives for their 
country. They had a clear perception of what their 
action meant; when they left this country they were 
well aware that it was not only Great Britain that 
they were called upon to defend, that it was not only 
France that they were going to protect against the 
attacks of invaders; — their clear vision upturned 
towards Heaven, detected the higher object ; they were 
well aware that it was the sacred cause of humanity, 
of democracy, and of justice that they were defend- 
ing. 

Still laboring under the impression left by such 
glorious and recent events, we have come here to 
pay you a visit. Your enthusiastic welcome only 
serves to increase the bitterness of my regrets, as I 
reflect on its inevitable brevity; but I am confident 
that you will be at one with me when I state that 
depth of feeling should not be measured by the length 
of a visit, but rather by the persistence of the feel- 
ings which are thereby instilled in the heart and in 



278 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the mind. Such assurances of our feelings which I 
bring to you, I would much have liked, after visiting 
your beautiful capital, to carry to other cities; it 
would have afforded me great pleasure to have visited 
Toronto, Quebec, Montreal, but our time is limited, 
and I beg that you may excuse the shortness of our 
stay, thinking only of the sincerity of the feelings ex- 
pressed in our message to you. 

It would have been a great satisfaction to me to 
travel at leisure over this admirable country, think- 
ing and dreaming over past events in your history 
which, at many points, is interlocked with our own 
national history. 

In coming to this country I desire to pay a tribute 
to Great Britain, that land of freedom, whose sons, 
wherever they go, bring with them emancipation and 
liberty; under every sky her mission is not to reduce 
men to slavery, but to awaken consciences and arouse 
determinations. I should have assured Great Britain, 
our noble ally, of our gratitude for having rallied to 
a man to the rescue of France in this, her supreme 
hour, because forsooth British statesmen had been 
parties to a treaty guaranteeing Belgian neutrality; 
because England's pledge was not to be denied; be- 
cause a nation 's honor has not two codes, nor a double 
morality, and because every country should take up 
arms and fight with all its might to redeem her 
promise. 

I desire, also, to recall the memory of our ancestors, 
those Frenchmen who came to this country in olden 
times and who seem to have brought to this soil all 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 279 

the elegance of manners and the beauty of France 
and Normandie. I am happy to note in their scions 
the ancient and strong qualities which are the reputed 
and proud characteristics of our race. To them I owe 
my thanks for having maintained in all its purity and 
perfection that noble French, which language to-day 
resounds throughout the universe, which you, Mr. 
Speaker, speak so admirably, and which you know 
in its absolute purity, partaking as it does of the 
limpidity of a stream and the resistance of a metal. 

It would have been a pleasure to me had I time 
to note on the bronzed faces of your country people 
the familiar traits of their brothers, our French peas- 
ants; and bow acknowledgment to the virtues which 
they share in common; thrift, assiduity to the daily 
task, steadfastness, and everything which contributes 
to the strength, the valor, and the fame of a nation. 

My time is limited, and I must beg your pardon 
for abbreviating my remarks. However, I would not 
be doing justice to the utterances which fell a moment 
ago from the mouth of your Speaker if, at this very 
moment, and from this time, from this high situation 
you have assigned to me, though a stranger among 
you, I did not, following in the footsteps of the 
speaker who preceded me, attempt through time and 
space to solve the serious problems brought on us by 
the war, including the very carrying out of that 
war. 

In the first place, what was the origin of that war ? 
Who is responsible for having started it ? You men- 
tioned it in your speech, Mr. Speaker, that bloody war 



280 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

was let loose on us by the whim of an absolute ruler, 
a ruler whose will is the only law, who governs heed- 
less of parliament or ministerial responsibilities. It 
was let loose by the pride and madness of a whole 
people. It was let loose to destroy the free democ- 
racies and peace-loving peoples of the world. 

Who among the peoples of the earth were more 
attached to universal peace than Great Britain and 
France? France had been vanquished in 1871 — and 
it is no longer an humiliation to us to recall that 
defeat, since in the meantime we have retrieved our- 
selves and find ourselves once more in a position to 
face our enemies. Such was our liking for peace 
that while with tearful eyes we looked over the war- 
ridden boundary, while we peered over the border at 
our provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, and while we 
carried in our breast a bleeding wound which could 
not be healed, yet so as not to trouble the world's 
peace, though not forgetful of the past, we kept still. 
Such was our attitude. 

Then, as regards Great Britain, which German slan- 
ders charged with having brought on the war, she had 
not even thought of establishing military conscrip- 
tion ; she had not provided a fighting machine, lacking 
which war becomes impossible; she was thinking of 
universal peace only, and of providing work for and 
insuring the freedom of nations. 

Both these nations were attacked, France, Great 
Britain, and also Russia. It was a challenge sent 
out to the whole civilized world, and then it was a 
question, not as to whether we were going to fight for 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 281 

the acquisition of territory, not as to whether we 
should recover sections of provinces, but as to whether 
free men would be allowed to enjoy the warmth and 
light of liberty. 

Such is the great struggle which is going on be- 
tween triumphant autocracy, which already we have 
struck down on the battlefield; such is the great 
struggle between triumphant autocracy, bent on rul- 
ing over the world, and democracy, whose sole aim 
is to regenerate it. Such is the great struggle be- 
tween absolute rulers, who consider as mere posses- 
sions the peoples over whom they rule, who aim at 
laying hands on men's bodies, and democracy, whose 
object is to elevate the mind, the conscience and the 
soul. 

And notice what wonderful changes have taken 
place in Great Britain and France. Some time previ- 
ous to the war those two nations had come closer to 
one another and had concluded, many years ago, 
I'entente cordiale. This reference to Tentente cor- 
diale concluded between France and Great Britain 
reminds me necessarily of your former Governor, 
Lord Lansdowne, whom I had the honor to meet in 
London some years ago, one of the keenest and shrewd- 
est thinkers in Great Britain, and who, no doubt, 
because he had long lived among you and because he 
had come to know France through knowing Canada, 
came back to Great Britain with a desire to establish 
I'entente cordiale and bring the two countries closer 
together. 

Here I am bound to pay my respects to the memory 



282 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

of Edward VII who was the enthusiastic artisan of 
the bringing together of those two great democratic 
and free nations, because his clear insight into condi- 
tions generally had satisfied him that such a result 
was practical and in order. Neither can I proceed 
any further without paying homage to his successor 
on the throne who with a strong hand in that tragic 
moment of history brought about the practical results 
implied in the entente cordiale as formerly concluded. 
What an admirable example was set to us by those 
two countries. Great Britain had remained aloof from 
conscription; she had applied her whole activity to 
forwarding industry, trade, and building up her navy. 
And when the hour of danger came, when she felt 
that a few thousand men would not be sufficient to 
resist the onslaught; when she realized that the war 
would be won not solely through the bravery of her 
children, through the courage of her soldiers, but that 
munitions, guns and munition factories would be in- 
dispensable; then as by a miracle at the call of the 
Government, not only in Great Britain but in Ireland 
and throughout its possessions and colonies — for the 
British colonies to Germany's great surprise rallied 
to their mother country in the hour of danger — not 
only munition factories and guns and projectiles, but 
thousands and thousands of men, five hundred thou- 
sand, one million, one million and a half British sol- 
diers, including your own Canadian boys, stood up 
and entered the fray alongside their French comrades. 
Such is the admirable spectacle which Great Britain 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 283 

presents to the wondering eyes and consciences of 
the world. 

I am quite aware that German calumnies must have 
reached this country; it is even likely that they have 
found their way to your minds and hearts; we do 
not feel humiliated because before the war you may 
have thought, on the faith of what was so often re- 
peated, that France was a lost country, corrupt, dis- 
solute, frivolous, catering solely to its pleasures, and 
so much rent by political dissensions that when the 
great struggle would come, Germany would be facing 
not men but a divided army, easy to scatter. Well, 
you have been witnesses of what France is capable; 
that wonderful France, standing undefeated because 
her sons keep up both with the traditions of the past 
and the traditions of the Revolution. You have seen 
what her genius can effect, the same genius that has 
emancipated a large section of humanity. We had 
arms ; we had an army. But what could our army do, 
with only 40,000,000 of inhabitants to draw from, in 
a struggle against the Germans who for the last forty- 
five years have been perfecting their war machine in 
order to hurl it against our country. We gave way 
at first, both British and French ; we gave way before 
the storm; we were not in sufficient numbers, but 
we righted ourselves after the battle of the Marne. 

How has that been possible? It is because the 
world's estimate of France was not true. 

There are political parties in France; every free 
democracy is made up of parties who struggle for 
supremacy, who hold different tenets, who do not 



284 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

monotonously copy each other's gestures and state- 
ments. What counts, after all, is that at the supreme 
hour all citizens unite in a common sacrifice on the 
altar of their country ; what does count is that every 
citizen should remember that before belonging to any 
political party he owes allegiance to his country; no 
political divisions would be possible. 

Well, what country could have done better than 
France to bring about this great sacred alliance? 
Everlastingly shall I remember, as the greatest honor 
that was mine in all my career, that eventful 4th of 
August, when I entered into the French House of 
Representatives with the declaration of war that had 
been communicated to me, as President of the French 
Cabinet, by Mr. de Schoen on the previous day. My 
colleague, the Marquis de Chambrun, a member of 
the French Parliament, will also recall the occurrence. 
There were all the members standing, quivering with 
emotion, all the galleries filled with wives and moth- 
ers who were going to send to the front their husbands 
or their sons; everybody standing; no more political 
parties ; no more groups ; none but Frenchmen recon- 
ciled in their devotion to their country. And as days 
followed days, all parties rallied to the same flag and 
put on the same uniform. Catholics no more; free- 
thinkers no more; Socialists no more; Radicals no 
more ; Conservatives no more, but all children of the 
one France. All Frenchmen, leaving aside their old 
disputes, came to the common conclusion that there 
was no necessity to arouse political differences; that 
before fighting between ourselves it was first of all 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 285 

necessary to keep under our feet a free soil, an un- 
divided France. As one man, we shouldered our guns, 
and it is that wonderful unity, that sacred unity, that 
has given us and will give us victory. 

I join with you, Mr. Speaker, in hailing this vic- 
tory. It should by all means break forth to the full 
knowledge of humanity; indeed, if this great effort 
of ours should not be crowned by victory, then I 
must say there never was waged a war so disastrous 
to the nations of the world. In former days nations 
have suffered grievously through defeat; but such 
wars were struggles between armies, and differences 
were settled through a treaty of peace; while in this 
war we are the spectators of a struggle between con- 
flicting types of minds and nations. At present, I 
repeat, what is at stake is not territorial aggrandize- 
ment — it is more than that — it is the freedom of the 
world. 

You Canadians who listen to me, you freemen who 
sit in this Parliament, pray mark my words. I realize 
that you are farther away than we are from the bat- 
tlefields; the roar of guns does not reach your ears; 
you do not see the return of large numbers of wounded 
men; but morally speaking, you are just as close as 
we are to the fray. Confronting one another we have 
autocracy and democracy, and should, perchance, the 
freedom fail to win the war, democracy and universal 
justice would be defeated at the same time. It was 
in the cause of justice that at all epochs we drew the 
sword ; it was in the cause of justice that Great Britain 
and France, together with their noble allies, entered 



286 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the war; it is to enable the children of men to enjoy 
after the war the advantages of a well assured and 
prolonged peace that we are fighting. 

Mothers who now listen to me, it is for your chil- 
dren's freedom, it is to prevent the recurrence of any 
wars and to secure the peace of the world, that a 
whole generation is now giving its blood, and making 
to-day the supreme sacrifice. 

Let a pious thought accompany those who go to 
the front. All laudatory epithets have been ex- 
hausted; there is nothing left to say in their praise 
but that some have given their life for a sacred cause 
and the others are fighting for the liberty of all man- 
kind. Soldiers of Justice, soldiers of Truth, soldiers 
fighting for the right, your fame and your courage 
shall ever be an undying example to Man. 

M. VIVIANI IN BOSTON 

Boston, on May 13, gave a warm gi-eeting to M. Viviani. 
Though coming after the city had outstretched its arms to 
Marshal Joffre, he was feasted, toasted and cheered by 
thousands. Despite a cold, drizzling rain that fell all day, 
he was taken through streets decorated with the colors of 
France, Great Britain, and the United States, and ap- 
plauded enthusiastically wherever he went. He reached 
Boston from Ottawa at 9:05 a. m. The visit to the PubUc 
Library was the first event on the day's program. Speak- 
ing from the grand stairway to an audience that filled 
every available foot of space, M. Viviani said: 

I knew in my heart that your great country could 
not contemplate the slaughter of innocents, the burn- 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 287 

ing of cathedrals, and other outrages without throw- 
ing in your lot with France and her allies. The pres- 
ent war must be a fight to the finish, and there must 
be only a thought of victory in the minds of all the 
Allies. If a German victory were possible, the free 
peoples of the world, those of America included, would 
be reduced to servitude. 

What a joy to be with you in this center of in- 
tellect, to make a defile of gratitude before philan- 
thropists massed in a setting of such marvelous 
beauty. How admirable these frescoes by Purvis de 
Chavannes, these decorations by your noble Sargent, 
who made his first studies in Paris. It seems to me 
that I am among a population who live by thought, 
and that I am near to France in this old city of Puri- 
tan traditions, where broke in 1776 the wave of liberty 
started by French philosophers. I salute also your 
illustrious university of Harvard, that center of patri- 
otism as well as of instruction, which has honored 
me by voting to grant me the degree of doctor of laws. 

I salute the Harvard ambulance service. I salute 
that young hero, Norman Prince, who has died after 
having fought not only for France, but for America, 
because we have the same ideals of right and liberty. 
I am not surprised that patriotism boils in this city 
so entirely cultivated. As minister of public instruc- 
tion, I have seen how patriotism develops with in- 
telligence. You have not only industrial riches ; you 
are the story, the hope, the soul of America. 

After the war I hope that a development of the 
exchange professorships between Harvard and France 



288 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

will bring us still nearer together. Brunetiere, Gaston 
Deschamps and others have already brought you our 
true thoughts in the tongue which is the language alike 
of sentiment and logic, emotion and reality. And, to 
say nothing of your President Lowell, we have had 
from you such professors as Barrett Wendell, author 
of the admirable ' ' France of To-day, ' ' and Archibald 
Coolidge. 

Professor Coolidge took advantage of a fortnight's 
holiday during his term to visit Germany, where he 
saw so impressive an army that he returned saddened, 
believing, as he said, that if there should be war 
France could not resist. But at Nancy, on his way 
back, he happened to see a review of our 20th corps. 
''After that," he said, ''I felt that you might hope 
success. ' ' This 20th corps was what saved the day for 
Gen. De Castelnau at Verdun, eight years after Pro- 
fessor Coolidge 's prophecy. 

Another development much to be hoped for after the 
war is an increase in the exchange of scholarships, 
for which Prof. Charles Grandgent of Harvard and 
others have such promising plans. Certainly we may 
hope that your students will hereafter come to the 
Sorbonne in preference to the universities of Ger- 
many. 

I have never been alarmed at your political or 
technical neutrality, for I knew well in my heart that 
you could not contemplate calmly the fusillading of 
priests, the sacking of cathedrals, the wringing of our 
hearts by crimes never before equaled. It is against 
that banditry of an enemy who jumped at our throats, 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 289 

that Jew and Protestant, Socialist and Royalist, the 
men of all minds are fighting in Lorraine and Flan- 
ders. 

If Germany should win, you too would be reduced 
to servitude, utter submission of word and thought, 
before the Prussian militarism which is trying to kill 
the conscience of humanity. But we know that you 
fight not merely for material ends. Let us draw 
nearer across the distance, and go forward together 
to save civilization and democracy. 

From the library the party hurried to 306 Boylston 
Street, where they inspected the local headquarters of the 
American Fund for French Wounded and expressed grati- 
tude to the workers. A similar visit followed to the Peter 
Bent Brigham Hospital, headquarters of the surgical dress- 
ings committee. "France will not forget what you have 
done," M. Viviani said, in reply to addresses of welcome 
from Charles Curtis, President of the trustees, and Mrs. 
Frederick Mead. "On my return I shall tell the story of 
your noble labors, persisted in not only during months, but 
long years; and I am certain that whatever aspect the war 
assumes, and despite your participation, you will never 
forget our wounded as long as they continue to fall on the 
battlefields." At President Lowell's house M. Viviani ex- 
pressed his regret at having been unable to attend the ex- 
ercises in Sanders Theater on Saturday to receive the de- 
gree that was to have been given him. Librarian W. C. 
Lane, Director Archibald Coolidge, Evart Jansen Wendell 
and others then escorted M. Viviani through the Widener 
Library, paying particular attention to the collection of 
French works. 

M. Viviani went next to the City Club, where he made 



290 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

an address whicli evoked a demonstration that he declared 
would be one of the pleasantest memories of his mission 
to America. Encouraged, evidently, by a realization that 
a large percentage of his 2,000 auditors followed his French 
words without much difficulty, he spoke for nearly an hour. 
The City Club in this affair established two precedents — 
one by giving a dinner to a guest on a Sunday, and another 
by standing as long as the speaker was talking. The only 
smile that lightened the grave face of the orator broke 
over it when, at the conclusion of his address, the presiding 
officers called for a "rising vote" of thanks. When the 
laughter had ceased, a show of hands from men already on 
their feet was substituted. M. Viviani had reached the 
club shortly before 7 o'clock, and was taken to the great 
auditorium on the fifth floor, where tremendous bursts of 
cheering were again and again renewed. No pen-picture 
could depict the flaming enthusiasm which his address 
aroused. Many had to catch his meaning from his flash- 
ing eyes, the tones of his voice and the gestures with which 
he reenforced his words as to and fro he paced the plat- 
form. He said: 

I thank first the chairman of this club, who has 
given us welcome, and then I thank the members of 
this club who have applauded us. I am extremely 
glad to be a guest of this organization, which includes 
in its membership men of all classes of society. 

It is especially of interest for me to be in a country 
where such a club is possible. In France, and gen- 
erally in Europe, such gatherings are not yet pos- 
sible, but may be very soon. To us members of the 
French commission it has been a wonderful spectacle 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 291 

to see hundreds and thousands of men gathered in 
an organization like this. 

Your club is a great school of civic life. It gives 
to men who are at work during the day the opportun- 
ity to gather of an evening for the exchange of ideas 
and for the development of plans for giving them ef- 
fect. 

Boston we regard as the foremost city for intel- 
lect in the United States, and it is the last place in 
your country where we may address a public gather- 
ing before returning to complete our business at Wash- 
ington. 

Three weeks we have been in this country, and I 
want to say that the sincerity and enthusiasm of 
our reception will not be lost. We have gained a deep 
impression from your expressions, public and private, 
and I shall take back to France the knowledge of 
the splendid reception we have had in America. 

Beyond that is our gratitude for the charity you 
have shown for our wounded soldiers and orphaned 
children. You have translated your sympathies into 
action, and to-day I had another evidence of your 
care for us when I visited the Peter Bent Bingham 
Hospital. 

I learned there — and it is all too insufficiently 
known in France, that an enormous quantity of ma- 
terial, made by the ladies of Boston, as well as more 
generally by the ladies of Massachusetts, has gone 
from this community to aid the wounded soldiers of 
France. 

As to the sentiments expressed in your Public Li- 



292 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

brary to-day, words would fail to express our grati- 
tude for them. We have literally felt the heart of 
America and the heart of Boston. 

We are all happy to be here and to be able to say our 
last public words before we return to Washington. 
Sometimes we feel humiliated at the thought that per- 
haps we do not merit this outflowing of American 
sentiment for France, but we are proud of it all the 
same. 

Of course, America has joined France in the war. 
But that is not so much the paying of a debt of grati- 
tude for the cooperation given you by us during your 
war for American independence. 

Lafayette when he came here did not come so much 
to help the then young America as to promote the 
sentiments of liberty and democracy which were then 
being expressed by our thinkers and the philosophers 
of the 18th century, men like Montesquieu, Rousseau, 
Voltaire and others. 

The thing now for everybody, in view of the colos- 
sal struggle in Europe, is for everybody to do his 
duty. History will retain from this war only the 
names of the most prominent statesmen and generals ; 
the names of the thousands of anonymous heroes will 
be forgotten. 

But all these men, as well as all their relations, 
have the great comfort of feeling that those who fall 
fall for humanity, and that as a result of the sacri- 
fice, their descendants will be free in the future from 
the curse of autocracy embodied in German mili- 
tarism. 



IN BOSTON AND IN CANADIAN CITIES 293 

You men of America have earned and receive the 
love of France. Your record in the Civil War shows 
what you will be in this conflict. You join us in 
the struggle that is on not only for America, for 
France, for Belgium, Great Britain and Russia, but 
for all humanity. 

Your flag has 48 stars, one for each state. Each of 
your states has its own legislature and yet they are 
all under the federal law. It is not too much to hope 
that one day all the countries now allied in the Euro- 
pean war may form a similar *' United States," each 
retaining its own form of administration, yet all owing 
allegiance to a common law. 

And that will prevent the recurrence of conditions 
which make it possible for some mad autocrat to play 
havoe with the whole of Europe. 

THE PRINCE IN BOSTON 

A demonstration in Boston which many thought rivaled 
that accorded to Marshal Joffre was given on June 25 to 
the Prince of Udine and other members of the Italian Com- 
mission. "Little Italy," the North End colony, which num- 
bered nearly 50,000 persons, made the occasion a holiday, 
and fairly bubbled in the exuberance of its welcome. Bands 
played martial airs at the principal street corners. Young 
women in white dresses saluted the Prince with a bom- 
bardment of flowers as his automobile passed. The day 
was filled with activities. First on the program was a 
visit to the Public Library. Then the Prince went to the 
State House, where he appeared before the convention 
which was revising the State's Constitution. Later he was 
whirled through shouting crowds in the North End and on 



294 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

to the Boston Navy Yard, where he went aboard a cruiser. 
Crossing the harbor under the escort of other cruisers and 
submarine chasers, he visited the Fore River Shipbuilding 
Corporation's plant at Quincy, where he saw sixty vessels 
under construction, among them many warships of various 
types, from slender submarines to great battle cruisers. 

Returning to the city, the Commissioners became the cen- 
tral figures in a Red Cross parade, which included detach- 
ments from the regular army, the navy. National Guard, 
and Ambulance Corps. Prominent among the bodies in 
line was a company of 129 recruits for the regular army, 
obtained in Boston in three days, all of them native Ital- 
ians or of Italian extraction. The Prince, at a banquet 
tendered by the State and city, said Italy, although a king- 
dom, was fighting the same fight that the United States 
had entered upon — "a struggle for democracy and free- 
dom": 

When we shall return to Italy, when we shall go 
back to war, we shall feel encouraged by the recol- 
lection of the warm hospitality we have found among 
you. Whatever be the strength and the insidious de- 
vices of the enemy, we must win. The United States 
will have the great honor of having contributed by 
their mighty energies to the destinies of the world's 
democracies. By proclaiming war your illustrious 
President has associated his name with history. By 
leading your country to victory, by helping to free 
the world from the oppression of military oligarchies, 
he will add new glory and new fame to the already 
great glory and fame of America. 

The members of the commission left late that night for 
Washington. 



vn 

LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 

THE LAST TWO SPEECHES BY MB. BALFOUR IN WASHINGTON 

Mr. Balfour, M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre all reached 
Washington again by the morning of May 14. A few hours 
afterwards, at 11:30 p. m., Joseph H. Choate died sud- 
denly at his home in New York. Mr. Choate had long 
been recognized as New York's first citizen. Although he 
had celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday on January 25, he 
had displayed extraordinary vitality as chairman of the 
reception committee during all the incidents of this wel- 
come to the British and French commissions, even to the 
last, when on Sunday, May 13, he went with Mr. Balfour 
to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for the morning 
service. Widely as the public loss was felt, the time and 
manner of his death were recognized as having in them 
something fit and beautiful. His death was believed to 
have been hastened by his great exertions; in fact, he had 
made those exertions against the advice of his physician 
and against his own judgment as to the risk he was taking. 

The chief members of the British and French missions 
prepared soon to return to their own countries, and were 
to depart unannounced. M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre 
had interviews with President Wilson on May 14 which 
were in the nature of farewells. Mr. Balfour spent prac- 
tically that whole day in resting, but did not depart from 

295 



296 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Washington for ten days. He had first to arrange for a 
permanent British office in Washington in charge of ex- 
perts in military and naval affairs, and Lord Northeliffe 
was soon to arrive from London to take charge of impor- 
tant matters with an office in New York. 

There yet remained for Mr. Balfour a few more appear- 
ances in public. On May 17, he and other members of the 
mission who had received degrees from Oxford or Cam- 
bridge, were made honorary members of the Phi Beta 
Kappa Society, at an impressive ceremony at the resi- 
dence in Washington where they had their headquarters. 
The election came from the Alpha Chapter of Virginia, 
which was founded at William and Mary College in 1776. 
In his speech Mr. Balfour said: 

Mr. President and Brethren of the Phi Beta Kappa 
Society: I, on behalf of myself and on behalf of 
my friends, thank you for allowing us to take part 
in this service, the memory of which, will rest with 
us as long as life exists. You have welcomed us as 
the mission from Great Britain. You have welcomed 
those members of the mission who belonged to sister 
universities on the other side of the Atlantic, and 
you have conferred upon us the highest honor which 
you can give or it is in our power to receive. We 
most sincerely thank you for what you have done. 

In the eloquent and moving speeches which have 
to-day been delivered by your President and others 
who have taken part in the ceremonies, little has been 
said of matters strictly academic. They were present 
to our minds, but they lay, and rightly lay, in the 
background. You who are present represent, and 
in a lesser degree I suppose we can claim to repre- 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 297 

sent, the academic life and training of the two great 
countries, and the fact that we should meet together 
and deal in the main with matters which are inter- 
national and political, rather than with matters which 
are in the strictest and narrowest sense academic, 
shows the great truth, or what I deem to be a great 
truth, that learning and study, if they be divorced 
from the realities of life and social life, lose more 
than half their worth. 

I understand, and others this morning have re- 
minded us, that this meeting is a symbol of all that 
represents the culture and education, or most of what 
represents the culture and education, in these two 
great nations that are now united in the pursuit of 
one great common cause. Let us take it for granted, 
then. 

The history of the society, of which we are the 
youngest members, is a happy illustration of the truth 
which I have just insisted upon ; for, if I rightly un- 
derstand the history of the society, it was bom in 
the stress and conflict of a great national crisis. The 
crisis we are living through to-day is possibly a great- 
er crisis than that which struck this country in 1776. 
It is one the importance of which extends far be- 
yond the boundaries of this community and touches 
the whole world, not in America alone, not in Europe 
only, but wherever the ideals of Christian civiliza- 
tion have come to flourish. 

Gentlemen, it surely is a great thing to feel that 
all of us who have in common a university training, 
whether it has been carried out here or in Britain, 



298 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

have the same noble traditions which have been main- 
tained for all these centuries; it is a great thing to 
feel that we are one. You, Mr. President, observed, 
with truth, that we are largely if not wholly of a 
common stock, but that blood is but a poor cement — 
I think that was your phrase — is but a poor and weak 
cement, if that which it is meant to cement is not 
bound together by ties, spiritual ties, more fervent 
and more gripping than anything that could be con- 
ferred by any accident of heredity. That surely is 
so. 

Whether they are students of American universi- 
ties or whether they are students of British universi- 
ties, they have a bond of union stronger than lan- 
guage, than literature, than law. Stronger these bonds 
are and should be. They have the bond of common 
hopes, of common purposes, of nations making com- 
mon sacrifices for one great end, and that end is not 
only that of American universities and British uni- 
versities, not merely the future culture of economic 
progress of these two great and free communities, but 
in addition to these causes, in themselves sufficiently 
great to fill the minds and kindle the imaginations of 
even the most sluggish, we can surely say for our- 
selves that we have in our guardianship gathered here 
to-day that we have in our keeping, the future free- 
dom of the world, and success in our efforts means 
the future civilization of the world. 

These are thoughts which I should hardly have ven- 
tured to refer to on such an occasion as this, before 
a society so strictly academic in its character as this, 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 299 

had not the example been set in the noble address of 
your President and others, and I should otherwise 
not have trespassed beyond the relatively narrow 
bounds of purely academic interests and ventured to 
go into those wider spheres of policy and humanity 
which are in all our thoughts at this great and solemn 
moment of our history. 

On behalf of my friends and myself I beg to thank 
you for the greatest honor which you could possibly 
confer or which we could possibly receive. 

The only other foreigners who had ever been elected to 
honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa were Ambassa- 
dor Jusserand and Lord Bryce, formerly British Ambas- 
sador to the United States. 

On May 19 Mr. Balfour made his visit to Richmond, as 
described in an earlier chapter.^ On May 22 American cot- 
ton manufacturers, who had gathered in Washington to 
appoint a War Committee for cooperation with the Gov- 
ernment, were addressed by Mr. Balfour. Introduced by 
Secretary Daniels, he received an enthusiastic welcome, and 
said: 

None of us suspected when this great war was 
started that the United States, thousands of miles 
away, would be drawn into it. And yet I think in 
looking back that the logic of events was irresistible. 
From the beginning there has been but one choice, 
and that choice inevitable. The United States has not 
hesitated to take it, and now that she has taken it 
she will not withdraw, I am confident, until the ob- 
jects sought are attained. 

*See pages 64-72. 



300 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Germany, by her insensate policies, has forced this 
country of unbounded resources to throw all her pow- 
er, all her wealth, but, more than that, all her moral 
strength, into the issue. America seeks no vulgar 
ends, no territorial aggrandizement, no mean gain. 
All of us would feel defeated and dishonored if we 
do not leave the world free from the menace that 
is hanging over it, that has been growing every dec- 
ade, yes, every month, more dangerous. 

Only the historian of the far future will be able 
to see all the causes and all the cross currents of this 
monster struggle. We here to-day cannot project our 
gaze sufficiently to envisage it all. The world's his- 
tory has been full of the outpourings of blood, the 
squandering of money and the wastage of resources in 
war, and in almost every case the impartial historian 
has been able to find something to say for both sides. 
I do honestly feel, however, that there will be no hesi- 
tation or doubt possible in this present war. 

As the war began with the cynical, outrageous op- 
pression of a little nation away down in the Balkans 
and went through the brutal violation of another small 
country to the north, so it is continuing. No excuse 
can be offered for the cold-blooded, calculating aggres- 
sion which has marked the course of the military au- 
tocracy which has plunged not only Europe but every 
quarter of the civilized globe into untold suffering and 
raised up for itself an undreamed of vengeance. 

The British Navy at this time paid tribute in Washing- 
ton to the memory of Admiral Dewey, a floral wi-eath being 
placed on his tomb by Rear Admiral de Chair and Com- 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 301 

mander Lawford, under instructions from London, to com- 
memorate the friendship between the two great fighting 
forces, as well as to express the British Navy's gratitude 
at the recent arrival of American destroyers in British 
waters. The wreath, which was laid in the presence of 
Admiral Benson and other American officers, bore this in- 
scription : 

A tribute to the undying memory of George Dewey> 
Admiral of the United States Navy, with the respect- 
ful homage and esteem of the British Navy. 

Admiral Dewey probably was closer to the British Navy 
than any other American naval officer, because of the his- 
toric incident in Manila Bay in the war with Spain, in 
1898, when a German squadron, under Vice Admiral von 
Diederichs, acted in a hostile manner towards the Ameri- 
can ships in the presence of a British naval commander 
who gave unmistakable signs of his readiness to give sup- 
port to Admiral Dewey if necessary. 

The conferences in Washington were now entering their 
final stages. American and British alike were extremely 
gratified that there had been no disagreement or obstacle 
raised to their success. By working night and day, all 
leading phases of the war problems that the United States 
desired to take up had been considered and agreements 
reached. Mr. Balfour on May 24 delivered a farewell ad- 
dress to the American people through the Washington cor- 
respondents, who had gathered for the purpose at the 
National Press Club. It was the last speech made by the 
British statesman in the United States. He had that day 
called on President Wilson at the White House for the 
last time. Following is his speech before the newspaper 
correspondents : 



302 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Gentlemen, I came to the United States conscious, 
of course, of the importance of the mission with which 
I have been entrusted by the government; conscious 
that the mission from the very nature of the case was 
one of the most important in which either of our 
two countries has ever concerned itself ; conscious that 
the very condition of the world in which we lived 
gave weight and importance to every action, to every 
word, and to every report of every word which might 
take place during its existence. 

The kindness with which we were received, the 
warmth of the welcome which reached us from all 
parts of the country, soon made it plain the strictly 
and narrowly business side of our mission was not the 
only one which was important at the present juncture. 

For my own part I have felt more deeply than I 
find it easy to express the kindness of the reception 
which you have given to the mission in general and 
to myself in particular. That kindness has been 
shown me, lavishly shown me, in Washington. It 
was shown not less fully and not less lavishly in New 
York and in Richmond, and I only mourn that the 
inevitable exigencies of public business make it im- 
possible for me to visit other parts of the United 
States, to communicate directly and personally with 
men in the Middle West, in the Far West and in other 
portions of this colossal territory, which is already 
occupied by the most powerful community in the 
world, and which is, I think, destined in the future 
to have an abiding influence for all that makes for 
peaceful civilization and freedom, and has certainly 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 303 

shown on the present occasion that a great commun- 
ity can be moved to perform great sacrifices for an 
ideal which has in it nothing of selfishness, nothing 
of the petty appetite for power, nothing but a pure 
and unstained desire to benefit the cause of civilization 
and of mankind. 

Gentlemen, you have shown, during the month's 
experience which I have had of your labors, that the 
American press is animated by the highest patriotic 
principles; that it is incapable, or has shown itself, 
so far as I am concerned, as incapable, of misrepre- 
senting or perverting in the smallest particular any- 
thing which I may have said or done. I know that 
it is to you and your friends that any word I have 
spoken, be it worth listening to or not worth listening 
to, at all events, reaches unperverted those for whom 
it is intended. For that I wish to express to you my 
most grateful thanks. 

I came with high hopes to Washington. Those 
hopes have been far surpassed by the reality. I ex- 
pected, from what I knew of American friends on the 
other side of the Atlantic, that I should be received 
with kindness, with courtesy and with sympathy ; but 
the kindness, the courtesy and the sympathy which 
I have received are far in excess of anything which 
I dared hope for or anything which I can pretend 
even to myself to have deserved. 

It is a sad thought to me that the moment of part- 
ing has come, and that those whom I looked upon as 
my friends, before I knew them, and who have be- 
come my friends in very truth and indeed since I 



304 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

know them, I shall be separated from, at all events, 
during the continuance of the present war. After 
that, may it be my happy lot to return in a less re- 
sponsible and official position to renew the connec- 
tion for a moment severed by the tragic events in 
which we are all equally concerned. 

But, gentlemen, the mission could not stay here 
forever. It has received a welcome — a welcome which 
none of its members will forget — and to me falls the 
pleasant duty, on my own behalf and on behalf of 
my friends, of saying to you, and to all whom you 
can reach, how deeply we thank the American public 
for what they have done. 

There are those who have said that the prepara- 
tions made by the United States are proceeding slowly 
and haltingly, and that a country which has been in 
the war for some forty days ought to have done far 
more than has actually been accomplished. For my 
own part, I think those who speak in accents like 
that know very little of the actual way in which pub- 
lic life is and must be carried on in free countries. 

At the beginning of the forty days of which I 
speak no preparations had been made; the country 
was anxiously, indeed, watching the events. It had 
not begun to make any of the preparations necessary 
for taking part in a gigantic struggle. 

I think that what has been performed in those forty 
days is most remarkable. It is quite true that the ac- 
tion of the executive government may be delayed, and 
has been delayed, by the fact that certain measures 
before Congress took some time to pass, and some 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 305 

of tliem have not yet passed. But I have lived with 
representatives assemblies all my life, and who is it 
that supposes that representative assemblies are go- 
ing to make great and new departures in public pol- 
icy solely at the waving of a wand? Such expecta- 
tions are vain. It is useless to entertain them. 

I am quite confident — I, perhaps, feel more con- 
fident than, it seems to me, one who has had no 
personal experience of American politics should feel 
— but, speaking for myself, I feel quite confident that 
Congress will not refuse to the President and the gov- 
ernment of the country all powers, great as they are, 
which are absolutely necessary if the war is to be 
successfully pursued. 

I am not only persuaded that it will give those pow- 
ers, but I am persuaded that when those powers are 
given, they will be used to the utmost, with as little 
delay as the imperfection of human institutions and 
of human beings allow, to throw the great and, I 
believe, the decisive weight of America to the full 
extent into the great contest. 

In that belief I shall leave these shores. In that be- 
lief I shall make my report to the allied governments, 
so far as I can reach them, on the other side of the 
Atlantic, and in that belief I look forward with a 
cheerful confidence to days which will undoubtedly 
be days of trial and difficulty, but beyond which we 
surely can see the dawn of a happier day, coming 
not merely to the kindred communities to which we 
belong, but to all mankind and all nations which love 
liberty ard pursue righteousness. 



306 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Mr. President, I will say no more. I thank you. 
Through you I thank every well wisher in America 
for all that you have done for me and for my friends. 
I wish you a farewell. I wish for a reunion at no 
distant date, under happier circumstances, when we 
can meet, not feeling that we have to deal with a 
great crisis which requires all our capacity, all our 
courage, and all our perseverance, but that we can 
look back upon trials already successfully passed, 
upon a duty happily accomplished, upon a permanent 
peace for ourselves and for the rest of the world. 

MR. BALFOUR IN TORONTO 

Mr. Balfour unannounced left Washington that night 
and crossed the Canadian border the next morning. To- 
ronto hailed with glad acclaim his coming. No speech he 
made there was more reassuring to the people of Canada 
than the happy, buoyant confidence expressed in his face 
as he rode through the streets of Toronto. The route from 
the Union Station to Queen's Park became an avenue of 
cheering, in which Mr. Balfour seemed to join rather than 
to take the ovation for himself. His fresh, handsome face 
beamed with contagious pleasure, as he waved his hat and 
bowed from side to side. It was not the stiff bow of the 
intellectual aristocrat, but the hearty abandon of a boy. 
The line of route was thronged with people. King Street 
and Yonge Street being packed on either side. University 
Avenue and the approach to Queen's Park presented a 
pleasing spectacle, crowned as the scene was by a clear 
blue sky. Spring herself provided the decorations, with 
fresh garlands of leaves and a green carpet of flower- 
bedded lawns. 

Long before the party anived, public and Hgh school 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 307 

cadets to the number of 4,500 had been drilling and form- 
ing. Mothers, fathers, and whole families had been seek- 
ing points of vantage from which to view the procession. 
Little tots in negligee trotted aimlessly after red-coated 
cadets and bugle bands, not knowing what the fuss was all 
about, but probably enjoying the occasion as much as any 
one. Cadets lined both sides of University Avenue. High 
school boys in khaki took up positions at the College Street 
end, the line of khaki tapering oil to a point at Queen 
Street. Cadets broke into cheering and, as the procession 
moved along, crowds flocked into Queen's Park, which must 
have contained nearly 30,000 people. The boom of gims 
then announced that the British statesman and his asso- 
ciates had entered the Parliament Buildings. The report of 
the last salute had scarcely died away when Mr. Balfour 
emerged from the front entrance and was escorted to the 
platform. He received a tremendous ovation, the assem- 
bled throng including* hundreds of representative people 
from different parts of the Province who had stood for 
more than a hour waiting for this great moment/ Mr. Bal- 
four spoke as follows: 

Prime Minister, Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen: 
The two addresses to which you have just listened do 
not and cannot leave me and my friends unmoved. 
And in those addresses there was, I think, no sentence 
that moved me more deeply than the one read out 
by the Prime Minister, in which he bid me not for- 
get that when I came to Toronto, in the Province of 
Ontario, I must feel myself not only among friends, 
but among countrymen, and that I must regard this 
great city and this new and growing country, with 

^The Toronto Globe. 



308 BALFOUR, YIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

all its undeveloped possibilities before it, as if it were 
an English county or a Scotch county where I was 
born, educated and brought up. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I did not need that invita- 
tion to entertain this sentiment. I have left on the 
other side of the border a nation of friends. I come 
into Canada to a great free country, composed not 
only of friends, but of countrymen. "We think the 
same thoughts, we live in the same civilization, we 
belong to the same Empire, and if anything could 
have cemented more closely the bonds of Empire, if 
anything could have made us feel that we were indeed 
of one flesh and one blood, with one common history 
behind us, if anything could have cemented these 
feelings, it is the consciousness that now for two years 
and a half we have been engaged in this great strug- 
gle, in which, I thank God, all North America is now 
at one. We have been engaged in this great struggle 
through these two years and a half, fighting together, 
when necessary making all our sacrifices in common, 
working together towards a common and victorious 
end, which I doubt not will crown our efforts. 

Ladies and gentlemen, your Mayor has referred 
to the efforts made by this city in the common cause. 
May I as a countryman of yours, though not a citizen 
of Toronto, may I say how profoundly the whole Em- 
pire feels the magnitude of the effort you have made, 
and how we value it for itself and for an example to 
all posterity, an evidence to the whole world of what 
the British Empire really means, not only for the 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 309 

whole of that civilized body of nations of which we 
form no inconsiderable part. 

Ladies and gentlemen, these are proud thoughts; 
they will some day be proud memories. We are asso- 
ciated together in a struggle never equaled yet in 
the history of the world, and I rejoice to think that 
in that struggle on which posterity will look back as 
the greatest effort made for freedom and civilization, 
the British Empire in every one of its constituent 
parts, and surely not least in this great Dominion, in 
this proud Province, and in this city not least, has 
shown what the unity of the Empire really means, 
and how vain were the anticipations of those who 
thought that we were constituted but a fair-weather 
Empire, to be dissolved into thin atoms at the first 
storm that should burst upon it. 

We have, on the contrary, shown that the more 
storms beat on the fabric of our Empire the more 
firmly it held together, and were so far from shaking 
it in any single part. Events that have recently oc- 
curred, that are occurring and will occur in the fu- 
ture, will join every part of it together forever in 
memories which will remain with us, the actors in this 
great drama, until we die, and which we shall be able 
to hand to our children and our grandchildren as 
long as civilization exists. 

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. 
Mayor, I beg for my friends as well as for myself 
to thank this great Province, this great city, most 
deeply for the manner in which you have received us 
on this great and historic occasion. 



310 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

MR. BALFOUR IN OTTAWA 

From Toronto Mr. Balfour went to Ottawa, where Par- 
liament in joint session on May 28 gave him a notable 
reception. He spoke first in French briefly as follows: 

Messieurs les Presidents, honorables messieurs du 
Senat, messieurs de la Chambre des communes: II 
m'est inutile de dire combien je suis louche de 
I'accueil qui vient de m'exprimer le President du 
Senat et le President de la Chambre. Je les remercie 
cordialement de leurs genereuses paroles de bienvenue. 

Vous me pardonnerez sans doute si je ne m'exprime 
pas en langue francaise avec la facilite que je de- 
sirerais. Mais je m'en console en me souvenant que 
vous venez d 'entendre un maitre de I'eloquence, le 
grand Viviani, digne representant de notre grande 
et chere alliee, de ce pays ou se battent en ce moment 
les soldats des deux races, francaise et anglaise, men- 
acees d 'un peril commun. 

Notre Canada a etecree par le genie des deux 
races — anglaise et francaise. Chacune de ces races 
a conserve sa langue, sa religion, son caractere na- 
tional. Cote a cote, elles ont vecu, elles ont grandi, 
et a ce moment des milliers des plus braves parmi les 
fils du Canada sont alles outre-mer et ont prete leur 
concours pour chasser les Allemands de la terre de 
France et pour delivrer le monde de la menace du 
militarisme prussien. 

Mr. Balfour's formal English speech was then made, as 
follows : 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 311 

Mr. Speaker of the Commons, Mr. Speaker of the 
Senate, Honorable Gentlemen: I turn to a language 
which I do not admire more than the one I have been 
somewhat imperfectly speaking, but one with which 
I am very much more familiar. Perhaps you will 
allow me to make the rest of my speech in accents that 
come more familiarly to my tongue. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with the profoundest 
emotion that I enjoy this opportunity of meeting the 
two Houses of the Canadian Parliament in joint ses- 
sion. Many of your most distinguished members are, 
I think I may venture to say, personal friends of my 
own; I have seen them and have enjoyed their com- 
pany in the Homeland, and now that I come here and 
have again the opportunity of renewing my friend- 
ship with them it is not merely a personal pleasure 
to interchange ideas and to come in contact with them 
as those responsible for the government of this great 
community, but there is a special emotion in feeling 
that I come at one of the greatest crises not merely 
in the Imperial history of Great Britain, but in the 
world history of civilization. 

Gentlemen, I do not believe that anything more 
unexpected to the outside world has ever occurred 
than the enthusiastic self-sacrifice with which the 
great self-governing Dominions of the British Empire 
have thrown themselves into this great contest. The 
calculation, of the ordinary foreign politician, and 
especially of the German politician, was that the Brit- 
ish Empire was but a fair-weather edifice, very im- 
posing in its sheer magnitude and in the vast surface 



312 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

of the globe which it occupied, but quite unfitted to 
deal with the storm and stress of war; destined to 
crumble at the first attack, and, like a house built on 
the sand, to fall to a great ruin. I do not think my- 
self that that was nearly so foolish, or so obviously 
idiotic, a miscalculation as some of those others in 
which our German enemies have indulged. On the 
face of it, to those who are ignorant of the inner 
spirit which animates the British Empire from one 
end to the other, it would be impossible to conceive of 
a great State which apparently was less well fitted to 
deal with the terrible stress of war. Take up the map 
and you see large tracts of the world colored red. 
They are separated by vast oceans, they encircle the 
globe; and while the fact that the sun never sets 
upon the British Empire may be proof of its magni- 
tude, it is no evidence of its strength. Moreover, re- 
member what the foreign speculators about the Brit- 
ish Empire must have thought before the war be- 
gan. They said to themselves: This loosely con- 
structed State resembles nothing that has ever ex- 
isted in history before ; it is held together by no co- 
ercive power; the Government of the Mother County 
can not raise a corporal's guard in Canada, Australia, 
New Zealand, or wherever you will ; she can not raise 
a shilling of taxation; she has no power to do so. 

But, they forgot that power which a certain class 
of politician never remembers — the moral power of 
affection, sentiment, common aims and common ideals. 
Even those of us who most firmly believed that the 
British Empire, a new experiment in the long his- 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 313 

tory of the world, was going to succeed; even those 
who, like myself, took a sanguine view of the future 
of our great Empire, must have felt — so loosely was it 
knit, so vast were the areas that it covered, so im- 
probable that this immense body should be animated 
by one soul, or that the indirect thrill of a common 
necessity should vibrate, as it were, from pole to pole 
and everywhere meet with a response — that such a 
dream was difficult, and such an ideal hard to carry 
into effect. When, unexpectedly, without giving an 
opportunity for preparation or discussion or propa- 
ganda, war burst upon the world, even those ani- 
mated by such a feeling might well have doubted 
whether this great Empire — each unit of which had 
it in its power to hold aloof had it so desired — ^would 
act as one organization animated by one soul, moved 
by one purpose and driving towards one end. It seems 
to me almost a political miracle, but the miracle has 
occurred ; and no greater event in my opinion has ever 
happened in the history of civilization than the way 
in which all the coordinated democracies, each one 
conscious of its separate life, each one not less con- 
scious of its common life, have worked together with a 
uniform spirit of self-sacrifice in the cause in which 
they believed that not merely their own individual se- 
curity, but the safety of the Empire and the progress 
of civilization and liberty itself were at stake. 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, it seems to me to be 
interesting to compare the picture which I have just 
endeavored imperfectly to draw of the British de- 
mocracies working freely together, each under its 



314 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

own institutions, each according to its own lights, to- 
wards a common and unselfish end, with what is hap- 
pening, and has happened, in the Central Powers of 
Europe. There you find also many communities, in- 
dependent, or nominally independent, of any alliance, 
working together towards objects which they, at all 
events, conceive to be in their own interests. But how 
different is that bond which unites them, how different 
are the ideals which they pursue! At this moment, 
if all the stories which reach us from every source 
have the least grain of truth in them, you have Ger- 
many fighting for her own self-centered ends, en- 
circled by a set of states which she has brought under 
her control, who love her not, whose interests are 
really not identical with hers but which she has got 
into her grasp, and which doubtless, if they could, 
would carry out their policies in their own fash- 
ion. 

The greatest of all these powers is Austria, and yet 
we all know, or all of us who have access to authentic 
information know, that Austria is not working with 
Germany as we are working with France or as the 
different units and elements of the British Empire 
are working with each other. Germany has so con- 
trived her diplomacy and has so arranged her material 
forces that Austria perhaps has not a will of her own ; 
but if she has a will of her own she is quite incapable 
of carrying it out. "What is true of Austria is true, 
with qualifications and differences, of the other allies 
who are fighting on the side of Germany. It is true 
of Bulgaria and it is true of Turkey. All of these are 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 315 

animated not by a desire for legitimate self-defense, 
not by a desire for freedom, not by a determination 
to reach any common end or to carry on any great 
civilizing work, but they, one and all, are merely 
pawns in the German game, moved as the German 
military party desires, not allowed to use their own 
resources for their own ends, not permitted to have 
ideals of their own or to pursue them for themselves, 
but all dragged into this great vortex of German am- 
bition; all designed in the first place to supply the 
forces by which the war may be won, and, if the 
war is won, as I presume there may be some in Ger- 
many who think it will be won, by the Central Powers, 
then predestined to fall into their ordered places as 
satellites of the central Prussian sun, as subordinate 
powers destined to minister to her greatness, to her 
enonomic wealth, to her economic control over all 
other nations, but always in strict subordination to the 
dominant power. 

That is the ideal of the Central Powers, and it is 
because the world has beg-un to discover that that is 
their ideal ; because the world now knows that the war 
was deliberately arranged by the Prussian military 
party that the provocation which was its nominal ex- 
cuse was deliberately contrived ; that the moment was 
carefully chosen, and that the ends were the selfish 
ambition of this military class — it is because the world 
has discovered this, that wherever you find a free 
democracy, wherever you find the spirit of liberty 
abroad, wherever you find that great spirit of self- 
development on national lines, there you will find 



316 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

friends of the Allies, there '^^ou will find enemies of 
the Central Powers. 

Ever as the months go on, it becomes more evident 
that this is a world war between the powers of de- 
mocracy on the one side and the powers of autocracy 
on the other side. We in this room, whatever shades 
of differences may separate us, can, in such a contest, 
take only one side. We can only be on the side of 
democracy. 

We are convinced that for every human combina- 
tion which has reached the degree of civilization and 
development that has been attained by all the great 
western communities, there is but one form of Gov- 
ernment, under whatever name it may be called, and 
that is the Government in which the ultimate con- 
trol lies with the people. We have staked our last 
dollar upon democracy, and if democracy fail us we 
are bankrupt indeed. But I know that democracy will 
not fail us. 

I do not pretend, I do not think anybody who has 
ever studied the history of the past or has looked 
with impartial eyes upon the present which will soon 
be history, for a moment deceives himself with the idea 
that democracy is an easy form of Government. Gen- 
tlemen, it is the only form of Government, but it is 
not an easy form of Government. It has inherent dif- 
ficulties; it has always had them, it always will have 
them, and I am not sure that every race is gifted 
enough to surmount these difficulties. That the great 
countries that represent western civilization not only 
can overcome these difficulties but have largely over- 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 317 

come them already, I think is assured. But do not 
let us imagine that the task, however successfully it 
may have been accomplished up to the present time, 
is one which does not require our constant efforts lest, 
where failure is easy, failure should occur. 

After all, when German militarism laid it down, 
as it has always laid it down, that democracy is not 
capable either of a far-sighted policy or of vigorous 
coordinated effort, it made a great blunder — ^but it 
made a blunder for which there is some excuse. It 
recognized how hard has always been found, — not 
now particularly but always, — the task of managing a 
great community of free men and directing and con- 
centrating all their efforts and all their sacrifices, at 
any given moment, upon one great object. That can 
be done, no doubt, simply and effectively by a military 
autocracy. It can be done more easily; it can in ap- 
pearance (though I think only in appearance) be 
done much more effectively. But when democracy sets 
itself to work, when it really takes the business in 
hand, I hold the faith most firmly that it will beat 
all the autocracies in the world. 

But it will not beat them easily; it will not beat 
them without effort; it will not beat them unless it 
is prepared to forego, temporarily it may be, those di- 
visions which, in a sense, are the very life blood of a 
free, vigorous, and rapidly developing community. 
That is the paradox and the difficulty which lies at 
the root of democracy. You cannot have a democracy 
without a collision of opinions — at least I think not. 
You cannot have a democracy without parties, be- 



318 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

cause parties are, after all, but the organization of 
differences of opinion, and the paradox and the diffi- 
culty of democracy is how this normal and this healthy 
habit is to be got over when, in moments of great na- 
tional crises, the efforts of every section and every 
party must be subordinated to one overmastering pur- 
pose. 

I am addressing a body of responsible statesmen 
who know how institutions are practically worked, 
who get their knowledge not from books but from 
experience; and they are the best audience in the 
world for dealing with matters which perhaps may 
seem to you too abstract to be proper subjects of dis- 
cussion on such an occasion as this. But I, who have 
seen the democracy of the Homeland at work since 
the beginning of the war, who have then had the 
happy opportunity of seeing on this continent an- 
other great democracy girding itself for the struggle 
to which it is now finally committed, and who have 
the inestimable privilege of meeting this gathering of 
my fellow countrymen in the greatest of our self- 
governing Imperial elements — I who have had these 
advantages am deeply impressed both with the power 
of a democracy to overcome the difficulties of which 
I speak, and of the necessity for its overcoming them. 
I suppose you have your difficulties, as undoubtedly 
the United States has had its difficulties, and as most 
assuredly we in the Motherland have had our diffi- 
culties. If those difficulties seem at any given moment 
to be hard to overcome, do not for a moment let your 
faith fail you. You are worthy representatives of 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 319 

those principles of constitutional freedom which in 
their modern developments are the invention of the 
British race, and which, on the whole, have been 
practised with at least as much success by the Brit- 
ish race as by any other race in the world. 

That Canada is with the Allies through all diffi- 
culties to a final and triumphant conclusion of this 
great conflict is the message which you, Mr. Speaker 
of the House of Commons, and you, Mr. Speaker of 
the Senate, have asked me to convey to the Mother- 
land. In the truth of that message I firmly believe. 
I know that the democracies of the old world as well 
as of the new — whether they belong to the British 
Empire, or are outside of it ; whether they speak the 
English language, or the language of other free na- 
tions — will come out of this struggle not merely tri- 
umphant in the military sense, not merely conquerors 
where victory is essential to civilization, but strength- 
ened in their own inner life; more firmly convinced 
that the path of freedom is the only path to national 
greatness; and with the lesson fully learned, that 
patriotism will always overcome the dangers and diffi- 
culties inherent to a democratic constitution, and that 
the strength which is derived from having behind ef- 
fort the consent of a free people, is greater than all 
the strength that can be secured by the most elaborate, 
the most tyrannical, and the most well thought-out 
system of military despotism. 

I most gratefully thank you for having listened to 
me. I shall carry back from this meeting the message 
which has been entrusted to me by the Speaker of 



320 BALFOUR, yiVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the House of Commons and by the Speaker of the 
Senate. And I shall do more; for I hope, however 
imperfectly, to convey to my friends in the Mother- 
land the tidings that the spirit which animates their 
children here is not less ardent, not less resolute, not 
less firmly devoted to the achievement of a final vic- 
tory than that by which they themselves are ruled. 

MR. BALFOUR IN MONTREAL 

To say that Montreal turned out en masse to welcome 
Mr. Balfour on May 30 might be to overstate the facts, but 
that part of the population which did turn out made up in 
enthusiasm. The reception at the station took up only a 
few minutes, after which the party were escorted to wait- 
ing automobiles and conveyed to the Windsor for luncheon. 
In one of the greatest demonstrations in the history of the 
Canadian Club, they were accorded a royal welcome at 
this luncheon. Every bit of space in the big room, the 
adjoining rooms, the aisles and the gallery was filled. It 
was several minutes before Mr. Balfour could begin his 
speech. Every one stood up and cheered, many moved 
their serviettes and in the balcony ladies waved handker- 
chiefs and joined in the applause. Mr. Balfour's address 
was as follows: 

Mr. Chairman, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
Let me in response to the reception that you have 
given me — let me tender my sincere thanks for the 
honor which the club has done me in electing me 
one of its honorary members. That the honor is a 
great one is sufficiently obvious to anybody who will 
glance around this room and read the names of those 
who have honored this occasion by their presence. 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 321 

It gives me profound satisfaction to be admitted as 
a member of one of the institutions which is, I believe, 
especially characteristic of Canada; an institution 
which is not only characteristic of Canada, but which 
seemed to me, upon its own merits, to be quite ad- 
mirable and eminently worthy of imitation in other 
countries. To be admitted, I say, as a member of 
such an institution is an additional cause for grati- 
tude, added to the many causes of gratitude which I 
have already had occasion to receive since I crossed 
over into this great Dominion. 

Your chairman, in introducing the toast, was good 
enough to refer to history which might be accounted 
ancient history, were it not for the fact that the ef- 
fects of the transaction to which he referred are vital- 
ly important at the present world crisis. 

He indeed made one slight slip, and attributed to 
me the honor which properly belongs elsewhere, for 
I was indeed of the opposition. I was not a member 
of the Government which made the arrangement with 
Russia, although I was the head of the Government 
which made the arrangements with France and with 
Japan. 

It is not too much to say that in my judgment the 
work thus done, partly by the party of which I am 
a member, although parties no longer exist on the 
other side, and partly by my friend Sir Edward Grey 
— that work, I say, made the present resistance to 
the world domination of Germany possible. Had those 
arrangements with France in the main, and with 
Japan and Russia — ^had these arrangements not been 



322 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

made I do not believe it would have been possible to 
complete the organization of resistance in time to meet 
the danger which burst upon a wholly unprepared 
world. Do not interpret what I say as suggesting 
what is wholly false, namely that these arrangements 
were made with a hostile intent to Germany. Ger- 
many circulated that misstatement, as they have cir- 
culated many other misstatements, for purposes which 
are perfectly obvious, and which ought to take in 
nobody. 

I speak with knowledge and with authority, when 
I say that so far as the arrangements with Japan, so 
obviously entirely outside the German question — put- 
ting that on one side as obvious and irrelevant — I 
say that the arrangements with France were not di- 
rected against Germany, but it was intended to bring 
together two great peoples, which ought never again 
to be enemies, but between whom small, petty, but 
none the less dangerous causes of friction, were always 
arising — were in the absence of this settlement always 
arising, and were always looked upon with pleasure, 
and were always aggravated as far as possible by the 
Central Powers of Europe. 

Ladies and gentlemen, there never was an arrange- 
ment more sincerely intended to promote the cause of 
peace. It has promoted the cause of peace; it has 
promoted the cause of international friendship, and 
one of its most important, but quite indirect, results 
is that when Germany showed that in her opinion 
the time had come when she could assert her pre- 
dominance over the civilized world, it was found pos- 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 323 

sible, and even easy, for every free community in the 
British Empire — for the whole of these two great or- 
ganizations to unite together to resist an attack equal- 
ly fatal — which were it successful, would have been 
equally fatal to the liberties of both. 

Well, so much for the past, of which your chair- 
man has reminded you. As regards the present : You 
know that my mission, in every part of it, and in 
every respect, was connected with the war, and noth- 
ing but the war. To help as far as may be, to co- 
ordinate the efforts of those who are engaged in the 
common task — that was our business, and to that 
business we have devoted ourselves. I rejoice to think 
that in the course of the work with which we were 
entrusted by the Home Government, it has been found 
possible to spend a period — all too brief, but none the 
less valuable — among our own countrymen in Can- 
ada. 

I say nothing of the kindness and the warmth of 
sympathy with which we were received in the United 
States, for on that subject I have already often 
spoken. I only refer to this great Dominion, and I 
can truly say on behalf of my friends and myself 
that we have been profoundly moved and touched by 
the welcome which you have given us. We go away 
(and I am afraid it is the last day on which I shall 
have an opportunity of addressing a Canadian audi- 
ence), we go away enriched with many happy mem- 
ories; we go away inspired by the consciousness that 
here on this side of the Atlantic your hearts beat in 
unison with ours, and separated though we be from 



324 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

you by thousands of miles of stormy ocean, there is 
no separation of sentiment or will or ideals or efforts. 
We go away again enriched by the increased con- 
sciousness of the fact that the value of a great Em- 
pire like our own — the value of its separated and yet 
united parts — is not to be measured in figures or esti- 
mated by statistics. 

The value of Canada to the Empire and of the 
Empire to Canada is not to be measured in men or 
money or ships, or any other of the material element 
that go to make strength or power to constitute 
strength. I do not undervalue those. I am ready to 
admit that the utilitarian side of empire, as of all 
other human affairs, is not the side which you can 
neglect, but while you cannot neglect it, it is danger- 
ous, it is false, to overemphasize it. 

The union of the various parts of this Empire has 
a profounder moral significance than any which these 
dry facts can possibly give us. There used to be — 
I am glad to think there is no longer — but there used 
to be a school of politics in Great Britain — a school 
which from many points of view, I think, has earned 
the gratitude of free peoples, but its numbers never 
could get into this question of colonies and Dominions 
and fabric of Empire; they never could get beyond 
those narrow and shallow utilitarian calculations. 
They utterly misunderstood, in my judgment, not 
merely the psychology of Englishmen and Scotch- 
men living at home, but the psychology of the descend- 
ants of Englishmen and Scotchmen and Irishmen liv- 
ing elsewhere. 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 325 

Nothing is more instructive, nothing is more in- 
spiring, than that feeling that man is not differently 
placed as citizens of the Empire in Canada from the 
position of the citizens of the Empire, let us say, in 
Middlesex; nothing is more inspiring than to feel 
that the environments, the likenesses of character, the 
training of hopes and beliefs is so fundamentally and 
essentially one that you can leave the crowded thor- 
oughfares of London and be transported into the far- 
thest west and meet a man and discuss public affairs 
with him, and you would feel you were on the same 
plane, that you looked at things from the same point 
of view, and that you had the same notions of liberty, 
of public liberty and private right, as if you had 
talked with a man on the next street in your own 
home town or village. That was a great glory in time 
of peace ; it is a great strength in time of war. 

And war is upon us in a shape and of a character 
as has never yet been upon any people since the his- 
tory of the world began to be recorded. I am not 
going to discuss the development or the present posi- 
tion, or the future prospects, of the war. That is a 
theme too great, perhaps for any single occasion ; cer- 
tainly quite inappropriate to this occasion, but one 
observation I may permit myself. It is that the diffi- 
culties of war were quite different at the beginning of 
the struggle from what they are as the struggle draws 
to its conclusion. "When war broke out it found us 
at home unprepared ; it found, I think, even our more 
military allies not over well prepared. 

I imagine that it found you in Canada even less 



326 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

organized for immediate warfare against a great pow- 
er than we were ourselves. All our efforts, therefore, 
at the beginning, were devoted to improvising that 
colossal organization without which the war could not 
have been carried on with the success with which it 
has met. I believe that history will say that in spite 
of many blunders ; in spite of many mistakes ; in spite 
of many shortcomings, the organizing effort made by 
Great Britain and by the Dominions and dependencies 
of Great Britain, is one of the most remarkable ef- 
forts that have ever been made in the history of war- 
fare. 

The situation, remember, was one scarcely contem- 
plated by either military or naval writers and think- 
ers. I have been concerned for many years in dis- 
cussing questions of national defense with the ex- 
perts — ^with naval and military experts of the Crown. 
And in all these years we constantly discussed the 
defensibility of Great Britain, the defensibility of 
India, the liability of our lines of commerce with our 
Dominions, being attacked or injured, and other 
cognate problems. 

Never did we discuss — never did we seriously face 
the necessity which has now come upon us, and come 
upon you, of keeping a colossal land army on the 
continent of Europe — partly on the continent of Eu- 
rope, and let me add, not on the continent of Europe 
alone, but in Egypt, and in Mesopotamia. "We never 
contemplated the possibility that that strain would be 
put upon our resources, or that our organization 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 327 

should be so modeled as to deal with that particular 
necessity. 

The whole, therefore, had to be improvised — the 
munitions, the finding of men, the training of men, 
the designing of guns, or the vast financial problems 
which suddenly burst upon the commercial world. 
All these had to be dealt with without premeditation, 
without long forethought and under circumstances of 
the greatest imaginable stress and difficulty. 

Those were the troubles we had to face when the 
war began. They have been faced not unsuccessfully. 

The problems and difficulties which meet us as the 
war draws towards its termination are necessarily of 
a different kind. They are of a kind which every 
combatant feels, which I am confident our enemies 
feel far more than ourselves, but which all of us neces- 
sarily feel keenly — the difficulties that arise from the 
relative exhaustion of men and material. It is in- 
evitable. 

But what I want to say to you about it is that it 
is not a subject for discouragement, but one which will 
only stir to more vigorous efforts every one of the 
great communities concerned. When my friends and 
I return to the Mother Country, we shall, I have no 
doubt, find that rationing, as it is called, is in full 
swing, that it is not possible for any man whatever 
be his means, to live in the manner to which, in hap- 
pier days, he was accustomed. Sacrifices are being 
demanded of every individual and of every class, and 
those sacrifices are being cheerfully made and will be 
cheerfully made. 



328 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

We are near the seat of war. It is our coast, or 
rather the trade as it approaches our coasts, which 
is chiefly menaced by that mode of naval warfare 
which our enemies adopted when they found it hope- 
less to dispute with us the command of the seas, and, 
therefore, no doubt, the largest weight of individual 
effort and sacrifice falls somewhat more heavily upon 
the inhabitants of the British Islands than it does 
upon those situated further from the immediate field 
of action. 

But I know how great are the sacrifices you have 
undergone, and I know the sacrifices you are prepared 
to undergo, are no more to be measured by any self- 
ish standard than those which your countrymen in 
the northland are undergoing and are still further 
prepared to undergo. 

We know that this great contest is drawing towards 
its final and concluding act. We know that this lat- 
ter stage must be marked more and more by suffer- 
ing and sacrifice and that the weight of such things 
must press more — far more — heavily upon our enemies 
than upon ourselves. We know that upon our en- 
deavors and upon the strength of our determination 
depend not merely the more transient issues but the 
permanent effects which will result from this great 
struggle, which must be worked out and which for 
good or evil are going to mold the whole future his- 
tory of civilization. 

I am not going to touch further upon any general 
question. But you will perhaps allow me to take this 
opportunity, for my friends as well as for myself, 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 329 

in saying a few words of farewelL In the near fu- 
ture we leave your kind and hospitable shores. We 
carry with us memories we shall never forget. We 
return each in our several positions to do what we 
can to further the great cause in which all of us 
alike are engaged. We leave behind us friends who 
will always be our friends and we know that they 
all in their several positions are as resolved as we 
are to do their portion towards the common work. 

That is an inspiring thought, which diminishes the 
pains of parting, and although we cannot with con- 
fidence say that the end is immediately in sight, you 
will allow me to state in conclusion my own firm and 
unalterable faith that when we meet again — and may 
it not be long — we shall have left behind us the dark- 
ness, the clouds and the difficulties which now sur- 
round us; we shall look back upon great events and 
great deeds in which we have, every one of us, borne 
a humble part, it may be, but one of which we shall be 
proud, and of which our children will be proud, and 
we shall be able to look forward with a serene and 
reasonable confidence to carrying out the great busi- 
ness whether it be of Canada, or of Great Britain, 
or of the Empire as a whole, in peace and in freedom 
and full of a consciousness that our faith is in our 
own hands and that we are not to be dominated by any 
power, however well organized, however well trained 
to the work of destruction. 

We shaU resume successfully and in freedom that 
peaceful progress which will be the highest factor in 
the civilization of mankind. 



330 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

On the same day in the presence of the heads of McGill 
University, clad in rich academic gowns, in the convoca- 
tion hall of Royal Victoria College, degrees were conferred 
on Mr. Balfour, Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, Rear- Admiral Sir 
Dudley de Chair, and General G. T. M. Bridges, the hall 
packed to the very doors, and beyond. Mr. Balfour's 
address was as follows: 

Mr. Principal, Members of Convocation, Ladies and 
Gentlemen : Our visit to Montreal has been unhappily 
brief, but the hours, few as they are, have been 
crowded with kindness, with warmth of feeling on 
the part of those whom we are visiting, and — I speak 
for my friends as well as for myself — I do not think 
that we are ever likely to forget the way in which 
this great city, and this great university, have re- 
ceived us. 

Ladies and gentlemen, if anything could add to 
the gratification with which I have received the high- 
est honor, which it is in the power of any university 
to bestow, from a university which stands so high in 
the academic hierarchy as this university — if any- 
thing could add to the gratification of receiving this 
personal honor, it is the fact that the university has 
been good enough to associate my colleagues with me 
on this interesting occasion. We have worked together 
during these all-important weeks for a cause which 
is dear to the heart of every one I am addressing, and 
it is a great addition to the gratification which I, as 
head of the mission, necessarily feel on such an occa- 
sion, that so distinguished a sailor, a soldier and a 
diplomatist have been associated with me on this occa- 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 331 

sion. I do not think it, perhaps, my business to talk 
about my colleagues, but may I just add a few words, 
to what has been so admirably said earlier in the 
course of these proceedings ? 

May I say this about my friend, Admiral de Chair? 
It is, perhaps, not known to many of you here that 
he was the admiral during the long, early months of 
this war, who was in command of the cruiser squadron 
which practically carried out singlehanded the block- 
ade of Germany. Night and day, through summer and 
winter, in the stormiest seas to be found anywhere on 
the face of the globe, that squadron under his com- 
mand carried out, untiring, unchecked, and with un- 
qualified success the great task with which they had 
been entrusted. We are all of us familiar with the 
great work of our battleships and battle cruisers as 
shown at the Falkland Islands, and in the great battle 
off the coast of Denmark, which are immortal monu- 
ments to what the British navy as a fighting force can 
do. You also know the heroic and romantic stories 
about what our submarines did in forcing the Straits 
at Gallipoli, entering the Sea of Marmora, defying the 
batteries on shore, and the nets of mines in the depths 
of the ocean, and contributing very largely to the 
manner in which an enterprise, not, unhappily, des- 
tined to succeed, yet remains a great landmark of 
what is possible for British arms to do, and involving 
memories which in Australia, in New Zealand, and 
in other great Dominions far overseas, will forever 
remain as a record of what England's sons overseas 
can accomplish in the way of heroic endeavor. 



332 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

"While we remember and know these things, there 
are two great branches of naval activity on which 
perhaps our ordinary thoughts are least occupied. 
One is the unflinching service rendered by our mer- 
chant marine in the face of dangers never contem- 
plated in former times as incident to the life of a 
sailor, and not less than this is the work of that 
cruiser squadron to which I have referred, whose la- 
bors were more continuous, more important, and more 
successful than any other branch of His Majesty's 
naval forces. 

Of my friend, the gallant general, who was asso- 
ciated with us in this degree, I need say nothing more 
than this, that he bore a heroic part in that great 
land struggle on the western front, beginning when 
the British forces were — as modern armies go — but a 
handful of heroes, and which continued growing 
month after month as the war went on, until now 
they amount not to tens of thousands or hundreds of 
thousands, but are gauged by far larger figures than 
those, and that in every phase of that struggle from 
the earliest to the latest, in all the changing experi- 
ences of this amazing war the general has shown him- 
self the gallant and the competent soldier which his 
friends, who knew his earlier career, fully expected 
of him. 

The value of the functions which he and the ad- 
miral have performed cannot be exaggerated because 
they bring to those who have and could have no ex- 
perience of modem warfare either on sea or by land, 
a knowledge of what modern warfare really means. 



1 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND AERIVALS HOME 333 

And, believe me, the study of strategy, the careful 
examination of all the records of the past, the service 
manuals, the drill ground, the maneuvers and all that 
was thought sufficient to teach a competent officer his 
duty before this war began, all that — I won't say it 
was useless — but I do say all this is utterly insuffi- 
cient to enable any man to lead others to victory or to 
secure the success of the cause for which he is pre- 
pared to lay down his life. That special knowledge 
can only be secured by experience. There are no two 
gentlemen in the service of the Crown more competent 
to give to others in a clear, intelligent and persuasive 
form what the results of modern experience in war- 
fare really are. 

Lastly, may I say about my old friend, the British 
ambassador at Washington, that — as he told the world 
at luncheon to-day — he has been careful, unlike 
some other diplomatic luminaries, to do his work and 
not to advertise it. You sometimes hear it said as a 
sort of obvious commonplace, that when the war be- 
gins, the functions of diplomacy finish. Never was 
there a shallower or a more inaccurate remark. I 
think that if you were to go around to the British 
chancellories in all the neutral, friendly and allied 
countries you would find in every one that the labor 
has been multiplied tenfold and twentyfold until 
it is almost impossible to find accommodation for the 
staffs absolutely necessary to carry on the day-to- 
day work of the respective officers, and, as their labors 
have increased, so in equal proportion have increased 
their responsibilities. It would be very undiplomatic 



334 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

if I were to discuss the secrets of diplomacy on an 
occasion like the present. It is very easy to talk of 
admirals and generals, much easier than of diploma- 
tists. But you may take it from me who know some- 
thing of these matters, that the responsibilities thrown 
upon His Majesty's representative at Washington 
have been of the gravest and most serious character, 
demanding the utmost knowledge, tact, discretion, the 
clearest perception of all the various trends of pub- 
lic opinion, and that these qualifications, difficult in- 
deed to secure, have been admirably exemplified in 
the present holder of that great office. 

I have touched on naval matters, military matters, 
diplomatic matters, and you will ask me what these 
have to do with the labors of a university. Indeed, 
the connection is not obvious or immediate. But, after 
all, we know quite well why we are here to-day. We 
are here to-day because of the war. We know that 
you are gathered together because you are profoundly 
interested in the war, and you know that the univer- 
sity has honored us because they were good enough 
to think that we had in our respective measures and 
up to the limits of our capacity done what we could 
to contribute to the success of the war. Has then, 
the war any direct academic interest ? Is it intimately 
connected with academic life ? In one sense it clearly 
is not. Learning is the work of peace, and in an 
ordinary university the amount of time given to a 
study which can be described as primarily adapted 
to prepare for the navy, the army or the diplomatic 
service is small indeed. 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 335 

And yet, I believe that it is the academic life, or 
rather in the academic life, that we have seen most 
clearly displayed the high qualities which have made 
capable the carrying on with success and honor this 
great struggle, unprepared though we technically 
were to meet it. The response which every university 
in Great Britain immediately showed when the war 
broke out, the response which you and other great 
Canadian universities made when first the news came 
that a struggle between democracy and autocracy had 
at last broken out, is a clear proof, if proof were 
needed, that the academic studies as they are con- 
ducted, at least in our country, may not train men 
to fight in the narrower and technical sense of the 
word, but do make them capable in the first place of 
appreciating the magnitude of the national cause, and 
in the second place inspires them with that devotion 
to public duty which compels them to throw them- 
selves instantaneously with all their strength and all 
their soul into the struggle. If the courts of Cam- 
bridge and Oxford are almost deserted except perhaps 
for the ladies ,• if at Edinburgh the native students are 
few and far between; if you have sent abroad, and 
other Canadian universities have sent abroad to fight 
at the front all your best and all your bravest. It 
is because these universities have shown themselves to 
be what all universities should be — creators of noble 
characters, creators of men who are not merely pre- 
pared to go into the world and battle there for their 
private interests in some competition in the competi- 
tive struggle, worthy or unworthy, but men who will 



336 BALFOUR, YIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

fully realize that while individual and personal work 
is the foundation of all possible human society, there 
are national and social ideals far above it, which also 
have a claim, on their allegiance, a claim which at all 
events you have shown and are ready to admit. 

I have spoken long and wandered far afield. May 
I simply say in conclusion that there is one function 
which a university, in a sense, performs to a degree 
which no other institution, or no other secular insti- 
tution, attempts to perform. It binds the past to 
the future, and it binds it through the education of 
the young. It is, therefore, the place which of all 
others ought to be the seed ground of hope, and when 
I look at a university or any great body of students, 
I always say to myself, ' ' Can we look on these people 
and not feel hopeful of the future ? ' ' 

It is a fact that they are students, largely absorbing 
the knowledge of what the past has to teach, but it is 
also a fact that they are young, and are being taught 
to prepare themselves for the work of life. They 
do not look merely back on the past. They are not 
merely students of the great deeds, or the great writ- 
ings or thoughts of others ; they are the men who are 
themselves to carry on the work of the world, and in 
them is the promise of the future as well as the knowl- 
edge of the past. A university, therefore, is an in- 
stitution for perpetually keeping bright in us the 
spirit of hope, and of confidence, and there is no 
place where the spirit of hope and of confidence may 
be cultivated with greater success than in a Canadian 
university. 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 337 

You have every element which can go to make a 
great future. You have the conscious convictions that 
your community strikes its roots far back into the 
noblest history in the world, the history of England 
and of Great Britain. And, in addition to that con- 
sciousnesss of your past and that of your forefathers, 
you have the knowledge that there is a bright day 
before you, a vast territory in which nature has given 
you the amplest opportunities for showing what you 
can do both as pioneers of industrial civilization and 
as members of great and growing communities. 

No man can say what the future of Canada is not 
going to be. The prospects are unlimited, but, be- 
lieve me, however far you attempt to throw your gaze 
into the future, however long and glorious the his- 
tory of Canada may be, those who look back on the 
way in which this great community has recognized 
its duties, not merely to the Empire, of which it forms 
a part, but of that civilization of which it is, and is 
going to be one of the greatest supports, will say that 
the moment when Canada threw its efforts into this 
war stamped Canada as having all the attributes of 
a great nation, for no nation can be great if it does 
not show that the training we give our youth at 
school and at the university is one which makes citi- 
zens and heroes as well as students ? A university is 
a great molder of character, and a great creator of 
character. 

SUCCESS AND PUEPOSE OF THE MISSIONS 

Thus ended the round of visits by the British and French 
commissioners to American and Canadian cities. Marshal 



338 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Joffre had said little at the end, but that little was unmis- 
takable in its meaning. "A memoiy most dear, which I 
will cherish until my dying day," was his comment on the 
great welcome. "There was never anything like it!" ex- 
claimed Viviani. "After this, they can attack me as much 
as they like." Mr. Balfour, in his last public speech in 
New York, delivered in Carnegie Hall, had said: "This 
certainly is a most glorious termination of one of the most 
glorious episodes in the history of international relations. 
This linking together of the two English-speaking coun- 
tries creates happiness not only for the present generation 
but for generations yet unborn." Mr. Balfour here gave 
expression to thoughts which for days had been in the 
minds of Americans. As in George Canning's time, so now 
in ours, the new world had been "called in to redress the 
balance of the old." The event recalled a famous prophecy 
made by Count Aranda, Spanish Commissioner at the sign- 
ing of the Treaty of Peace in Paris in 1782: "A federal 
republic is this day born a pigmy, but the day will come 
when to these countries here it will be formidable as a 
giant, even a colossus." 

German newspapers strangely represented this welcome 
as having been "cold," and said the French had blundered 
in sending to America Marshal Joffre, who "could not 
speak a word of English." Marshal Joffre had probably 
won every non-German heart in the country. As he now 
said of his visit: "A memory most dear," so had he said 
in the Senate Chamber a few days after his arrival, in 
his first public utterance in America, "Vivent les Etats 
Unis." Never was a famous world hero so democratic, so 
utterly unspoiled, so unconscious of his fame. He often 
reminded Americans of their own Grant, each a great 
soldier" with a simple heart. 

As to the purpose of the Missions and what they had ae- 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 339 

complished, it could be said that their objects had been 
threefold — to reach a complete understanding as to the 
prosecution of the war by the United States; to arrange 
for military and naval cooperation between the United 
States and her allies; to discuss the financial assistance 
America would give, and to adjust questions of trade and 
shipping. On all points a satisfactory agreement had been 
reached. Mr. Balfour and the French Commissioners came 
with no suggestion of any political alliance, and President 
Wilson had made it known at once that there was no neces^L 
sity for any formal compact. In other words, the under- 
standing arrived at was what has sometimes been called "a 
gentleman's agreement." The United States were drawn 
into the war much in the same way that Great Britain was 
driven to take up arms. No more than England had we 
gone to war for gain. Having been made to draw the 
sword, America was not to sheathe it until Prussia had 
ceased to be a menace to the peace of the world. 

M. VIVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFFRE IN PARIS AGAIN 

In Paris, enormous crowds, cheering tumultuously, wel- 
comed home, on May 23, the French Mission. Premier 
Ribot and other members of the Cabinet were at the sta- 
tion. "Why, this is like New York," said Marshal Joffre, 
as the automobile which conveyed him from the St. Lazare 
station was halted on account of the density of the crowd. 
Police lines were broken through by throngs of spectators, 
who surrounded the automobiles, waving flags and handker- 
chiefs. M. Viviani, discussing afterwards his departure 
from Washington, said: "I told President Wilson how 
deeply touched I was by the manifestations of the sympa- 
thy of the American people to which the President replied, 
*We are brothers in the same cause.' " 

The French commissioners had arrived safely at Brest, 



340 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the naval station in northwestern France, after a pleasant 
voyage devoid of encounters with either mines or sub- 
marines. In leaving Washington they had chosen a night 
special train and had gone to the station singly, so as not 
to attract attention. In New York, the port of their em- 
barkation, they boarded at midnight an armed ship, already 
in mid-stream, which sailed immediately. Marshal Joffre 
during the voyage answered two hundred and thirty of some 
eight hundred unanswered letters, which had been brought 
on board by his aide. M. Viviani and Marshal Joffre had 
received altogether a few thousand letters from Americans 
and regretted much that it had been impossible to answer 
all, particularly those from children. They undertook, 
however, to acknowledge all communications containing 
money, the total amount received for various charities be- 
ing about 2,000,000 francs. 

One of M. Viviani's first duties in Paris was to present 
to President Poincare a letter addressed to him by Presi- 
dent Wilson. This missive, which was an unusually long 
document of its kind, was understood to embody the Presi- 
dent's general acceptance of the French Government's sug- 
gestions as to the form American intervention should as- 
sume and to express profound sympathy with a friendly, 
though informal, partnership between the two nations. 
What the French call "material" — artillery, wagon trains, 
motor trucks, and drivers, all the technical corps that go to 
make up a combatant body — were to be supplied by the 
French for the present, but eventually, by the next spring 
at latest. Marshal Joffre had hoped to see an American ex- 
peditionary force, several hundred thousand strong, as com- 
plete in every detail as the British army in 1916, taking 
its place in the battle front in France. 

"We could not have been treated more kindly on this 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 341 

side of Paradise," said M. Viviani. In an interview in the 
Temps, he said further of his visit: 

President Wilson is a man of high intellect, whose 
mind has been refined by study, and vrhose penetrat- 
ing vision perceives all shades of American opinion in 
the vast country, vrith its 110,000,000 people, vsrhere 
all races are intermingled. He possesses in the high- 
est degree two masterly qualities which mark the 
statesman, namely, patience, wherein no event can 
draw from him a premature conclusion, and, when he 
has reached liis conclusion, action, from which nothing 
can make him recede. 

I have also had the honor to be received on several 
occasions by Secretary Lansing and Secretary Mc- 
Adoo. You will not expect me to disclose by the 
slightest allusion the importance and gravity of the 
views exchanged, but that which I can describe is the 
cordiality and simplicity, the virile tenderness with 
which the chiefs of State welcomed us. I could cite 
hundreds of evidences of attachment shown to us by 
men unknown and by men of most illustrious posi- 
tion. 

No one, even in imagination, can conceive of the 
privileged situation our country occupies in the 
pulsating heart of vast America. The fraternal friend- 
ship born between the two countries in the days of 
Lafayette, Rochambeau, and Grasse has continued for 
140 years; it is maintained and strengthened with 
touching care by the American Nation. It is between 
the portraits of Washington and Lafayette that the 
President of the American Senate and the Speaker of 



342 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

the American House of Representatives are placed in 
the Presidency of these high assemblages. I am abso- 
lutely certain that this enthusiasm came from the 
heart, and that this fraternal sympathy, which is 
exalted to the point of being a heroic brotherhood, 
will be rendered effective by constant cooperation. 

MR. BALFOUR REACHES LONDON SAFELY 

After the receptions in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal — 
the latter on May 30 — the public heard nothing of Mr. 
Balfour until June 8 when a cable despatch from London 
announced that he had arrived home safely. Mr. Bal- 
four's voyage had been so wrapped in secrecy, as far as 
the public were concerned, that when he arrived home few 
in England had been aware that he was due. His safety 
brought much satisfaction to officials in Washington who 
had surroimded his visit and that of M. Viviani and Mar- 
shal Joiire with greater precautions and secrecy than prob- 
ably ever were undertaken before in this country. He 
spoke in terms of warmest appreciation of his visit. "I 
have been more kindly treated than any man ever was be- 
fore," said he. 

On June 20 Mr. Balfour spoke of his mission to mem- 
bers of the House of Commons at a luncheon in the dining- 
room on the Terrace at Westminster. Besides Members 
of Parliament and Cabinet Ministers, the American Am- 
bassador, Walter H. Page, and a few colonial representa- 
tives were present. Former Premier Asquith presided as a 
token of the nonpolitical character of the occasion, with 
Mr. Balfour on his right and Ambassador Page and Premier 
Lloyd George on his left. Other members of the Cabinet 
sat at a central table. After a cordial welcome home, voiced 
by Mr. Asquith, Mr. Balfour said: 



I 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 343 

I undertook the headship of the American mission 
with some reluctance and diffidence. I felt it so easy 
to do harm, and perhaps not so easy to do good. But, 
looking back, I feel that no harm has been done, and 
much good. My colleagues performed their various 
tasks with great skill — tasks which involved the bring- 
ing together of the tremendous forces of the United 
States and Great Britain. 

The success of the mission was not due to the per- 
sonal qualifications of your representatives, but to far 
deeper and more permanent causes, which must give 
us all great cause for gratification. I say nothing of 
the hospitality of the United States, which is prover- 
bial. I need not dwell on the boundless kindness 
shown us, which was so obviously from the heart. The 
American people would have given us that same hos- 
pitality under any circumstances. 

What moves me, and all of Britain, and France, too, 
is something deeper, namely, the tremendous and 
spontaneous enthusiasm of America for what is now 
our common cause and the deep feelings of sympathy 
which manifestly animate the entire American com- 
munity, North, South, East, and West. It might have 
been in the power of emissaries who were either un- 
fortunate or indiscreet to check that manifestation of 
feeling, but it was not in the power of individuals, 
however endowed, to create it. It did not come from 
the Mission. The Mission was the occasion of its ex- 
hibition and not the cause of the exhibition, and that 
is the real value which has issued from any such pub- 
lic efforts of the Mission. The result of those efforts 



344 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

has been to give to the great American community the 
power of showing in the strongest, the most effective, 
and the most moving fashion what they felt of the 
great cause in which, as they knew, our Allies in 
France and we ourselves in this country have been 
engaged for nearly three years — the cause of world 
freedom. 

That is the real significance of the Mission of which 
I was the head. That is the great result which it 
is having and has had^ — a result the value of which 
cannot be measured by its effect on this war, great 
as this effect is likely to be, but which will, I hope, 
outlast in the history of the world the life of even 
the youngest of those whom I am now addressing. I 
regard this Mission not as the cause, but as the indi- 
cation, of one of the most beneficent developments 
of international relations which has ever occurred in 
the history of the world. Most alliances, as students 
of history know, are based upon the temporary hopes 
and temporary agreements of aim between nations 
which join together each for its own purpose, and 
whose alliance lasts only so long as the same end bene- 
fits both countries. Such alliances are inevitably 
doomed. They are based upon temporary necessities, 
and when the occasion is over they vanish, leaving 
behind, it may be, friendly or unfriendly relations, 
but not leaving behind anything necessarily as a per- 
manent basis. I hope, and I believe, that the co- 
operation in this war between Great Britain and 
America is not based upon the fact that each has 
something to get out of the war for itself, but is 



LEAVE-TAKINGS AND ARRIVALS HOME 345 

based upon a deep congruity and harmony of moral 
feeling and moral ideas. That is its origin, and so 
also will be its history. It will endure as long as our 
two nations are content to pursue these great ideals, 
and I pray God it may be forever. 

You may perhaps think I am drifting somewhat 
away from the subject of the great struggle in which 
we are all engaged. But, believe me, the considera- 
tions I have been bringing to your notice have, in 
fact, reference, and an immense importance, in con- 
nection with the present struggle. As our alliance 
and cooperation with the United States are based 
upon these great moral considerations, and not upon 
any desire of this country or of the United States to 
use the war as an instrument of expansion, so we may 
be quite certain that, as the United States have gone 
in with us for these great ends, they will never leave 
us till these great ends are accomplished. There is 
nothing of which I am more certain than this — the 
United States, having put their hand to the plow, 
are not going to turn back. They watched the course 
of events from the inception of this terrible war in 
August, 1914, and, having studied the history which 
had led up to it, having carefully contemplated the 
whole play of international forces in recent years, 
they have come to the conclusion that with the victory 
of the Allies is bound up the future of civilization, as 
they and as we conceive it. 

It is a conflict between two ideals, both of which 
profess to be civilized — ^the German ideal, and what, 
at all events in this connection, I may call the Anglo- 



346 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Saxon ideal. They are clear, as we are clear, that it 
is the second ideal which should regulate our policy, 
and they are not going to abandon any effort, or to 
refuse any sacrifice, any more than we are 
going to abandon any effort, or refuse any 
sacrifice, which may bring to a happy frui- 
tion a policy on which we are all convinced de- 
pends, not only immediate prosperity for us and our 
children, but the whole trend of international and 
civilized evolution, as far as human eyes and human 
powers of foresight can venture to penetrate the fu- 
ture. These are not the fruits of the Mission, but I 
think the Mission gave an occasion for the emphatic 
expression of them, and if that be valuable, and 
surely it is valuable, then we who took part in that 
Mission may congratulate ourselves on its result. 



VIII 

THE ARRIVAL OF AMERICAN FORCES IN 
ENGLAND AND FRANCE 

OUR FIRST PREPARATION FOR WAR 

Coincident with the coming- of the Entente Commission- 
ers, or following soon after their arrival home, important 
work had been carried through in Washington in preparing 
the country for actual war. A brief enumeration of cer- 
tain features of this early work may fitly close this record. 

On April 13 — nine days after "a state of war" was de- 
clared — both Houses of Congress passed unanimously a 
bill providing for the raising of $7,000,000,000 for use in 
assisting the Entente Allies, and to pay our own first war 
expenses. 

On April 28 CongTess passed an Army Bill, which raised 
the regular force to its maximum war strength, and called 
for a draft registration of all men in the country between 
21 and 31. 

On May 4 Admiral Sims, with a flotilla of destroyers, ar- 
rived in British waters, and began at once to participate 
in the war on German submarines. 

On May 18 the first contingent of a United States Army 
medical unit reached England. 

On June 5 a registration for a selective draft was taken 
throughout the country, and about 10,000,000 men respond- 
ed. From these were to be drawn 500,000 men for actual 
service, with another draft of 500,000 to follow later if 
found necessary. 

347 



348 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

On June 8 General Pershing and his staff arrived in 
England, and on June 13 reached Paris. 

On June 15 were completed the subscriptions for the 
first instalment of $2,000,000,000 of the $5,000,000,000 
Liberty Loan, the amount of the instalment being over- 
subscribed by more than $1,000,000,000, and the number 
of individuals making subscriptions 4,000,000. 

On June 26 a flotilla of transports, having on board 
some thousands of regular American troops, arrived at a 
French port in two contingents and were received in the 
midst of an enthusiastic demonstration. 

GEN. PERSHING IN LONDON AND PARIS 

General Pershing, on arrival, was accorded receptions in 
Liverpool, London, Boulogne and Paris, which were won- 
derful recognitions of the honors that had attended the 
visits to this country in April and May of Mr. Balfour, 
M. Viviani, and Marshal Joffre, and of the action already 
taken by the United States in aid of the Entente Allies. 
When on June 8 he arrived in Liverpool, he said to a 
number of British newspaper men and through them to 
the British public: 

We are very proud and glad to be the standard 
bearers of our country in this great war for civiliza- 
tion and to land on British soil. The welcome which 
we have received is magnificent and deeply appreci- 
ated. We hope in time to be playing our part — and 
we hope it will be a big part — on the western front. 

His ship was the White Star boat Baltic. The voyage 
was without special incident. Pie went aboard the Baltic 
from a tug which conveyed him to the side of the ship as 
she stopped off Governor's Island, after leaving her pier 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 349 

on the North River. Very few persons in the whole coun- 
try knew anything about his departure. Several days later 
some American destroyers came out from England, picked 
up the Baltic and escorted her through the danger zone. No 
enemy craft of undersea variety was seen during the voy- 
age or even made its presence felt. 

The British did their utmost to pay honor to the visitors. 
General Sir Pitcairn Campbell and other officers received 
them in Liverpool with a guard of Welsh Fusiliers, having 
their regimental mascot (a white goat), and with a band 
parading on the pier. The band played "The Star-Spangled 
Banner," while the guard stood at present arms, with all 
the British officers at salute. They were taken to London 
by special train, to which a state carriage was attached 
for General Pershing, and were received in London by 
Lord Derby, Secretary of State for War, General Lord 
French, commanding the home forces, and several other 
high officials from the War Office, and by Ambassador 
Page and Admiral Sims. General Pershing shook hands 
with the grimy driver and stoker on arrival at Euston Sta- 
tion. Among many honors accorded him in London was 
a luncheon with the King at Buckingham Palace. 

After five days he departed for France, and landed at 
Boulogne, welcomed with cheers from French territorials 
and British sailors and soldiers. He was met at the quay 
by General Pelletier, representing the French Government; 
Commandant Hue, representing the Minister of War; Gen- 
eral Dumas, commanding the northern region; Colonel 
Daru, Governor of Boulogne; Rene Besnard, Under Secre- 
tary of War; Major Thousellier, representing Marshal 
Joffre; Vice Admiral Bonarch, representing the navy, and 
by a British Admiral. British soldiers and marines, lined up 
along the quays, rendered military honors as the vessel, 
flying the Stars and Stripes, preceded by destroyers and 



350 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 



accompanied by hydroplanes and dirigible balloons, steamed 
into the harbor. Military bands played "The Star-Spangled 
Banner" and the "Marseillaise" as General Pelletier and 
his party boarded the boat to welcome General Pershing. 

The scene was one of striking animation. The day was 
bright and sunnj^, the quays crowded with vast throngs 
made up of townspeople and soldiers from all the Entente 
allied armies, French and British troops predominating. 
The shipping in the harbor was gay with flags and bunt- 
ing, many merchant craft hoisting American flags. Along 
the crowded qua'ys the American colors were seen every- 
where. A great wave of enthusiasm broke forth as the 
tall, muscular figure of General Pershing stepped upon 
the quay. As the band played the "Marseillaise," he and 
the members of his staff stood uncovered. M. Besnard, in 
greeting him in behalf of the French Government, said 
Americans had come to France to fight with the Allies 
for the same cause — that of right and civilization. General 
Pelletier extended a greeting in behalf of the French Army. 
General Dumas said: 

Your coming opens a new era in the history of the 
world. The United States of America is now taking 
its part with the United States of Europe. Together 
they are about to found the United States of the 
World, which will definitely and finally end the war 
and give a peace which will be enduring and fruitful 
for humanity. 

Visible evidence of the war greeted General Pershing 
and his staff as soon as they touched French soil. A war 
transport, filled with African laborers, docked a few min- 
utes after his ship reached her pier. As his special train 
passed out of the station a hospital train was being un- 



' AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 351 

loaded on the opposite platform. Soon after he stepped 
ashore General Pershing said to newspaper correspondents : 

Undoubtedly this is a most impressive day for all 
of us — the arrival of the vanguard of the American 
forces in France. It has impressed us all very deeply. 
We more fully appreciate the significance of our entry 
into the war, after having stepped on the shores of 
France, than ever before, and now it will be a very 
serious thing for us. I feel warranted in saying that 
America is in the war to do her share, whatever that 
share may turn out to be, whether great or small. I 
feel every assurance in saying that that can be fully 
counted upon. 

In Paris he received a tumultuous welcome. At the sta- 
tion he was met by Marshal Joffre, M. Viviani, Ambassa- 
dor Sharp, Paul Painleve, Minister of War, and General 
Foch, who gave the finishing thrust at the Marne. As the 
General's figure came to the small door of the car in the 
Gare du Nord, he was seen to stand there erect, motionless, 
and expressionless, his eyes fixed above the heads of the 
reception party, which occupied a cleared space on the 
platform. When the band struck up "The Star-Spangled 
Banner," the General's right hand was instantly at salute 
and remained so until the "Marseillaise" had been rendered. 
His was a statuesque figure — the incarnation of West Point 
training and tradition, as fine a specimen of American 
physical manhood as could be wished for. When the music 
stopped, he stepped abruptly down the steps of the car to 
the platform, where Ambassador Sharp introduced himself 
and M. Viviani gave an effusive, whole-hearted welcome. 
As General Pershing turned a little to the right, he saw 
standing there "Papa" Joffre. The two hands of each 



352 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

instantly went out to the other's two, and there they stood 
face to face without a word, a splendid smile wreathing 
the face of the great Marshal, his eyes fixed in their gaze 
on the American General. After that came handshaking's 
with M. Painleve, representatives from the Elysee, and 
with General Foch. 

As the party moved toward the gate, there was a shout 
which took an American observer back to the shouting in 
New York for Marshal Joffre. This yell was repeated over 
and over again, and became even more tremendous when 
the party reached the street. Here the people were either 
very old or very young, the women greatly outnumbering 
the boys and old men. Literally every face wore a smile — 
not the happy, care-free smile of old fete days, but a 
smile that came out of a suffering heart,^ The party drove 
in open carriages through one of the grand boulevards, 
General Pershing riding with Minister Painleve and Mar- 
shal Joffre with Ambassador Sharp, to a hotel on the Place 
de la Concorde. General Pershing later in the day gave 
out a statement for publication, as follows: 

I came to Europe to organize the participation of 
our army in this immense conflict of free nations 
against the enemies of liberty, and not to deliver fine 
speeches at banquets or have them published in the 
newspapers. Besides, that is not my business, and, 
you know we Americans, soldiers and civilians, like 
not only to appear, but to be, business-like. However, 
since you offer me an opportunity to speak to France, 
I am glad to make you a short and simple confes- 
sion. 

As a man and as a soldier I am profoundly happy, 

* The New York Times. 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 353 

indeed proud, of the high mission with which I am 
charged. But all this is purely personal, and conse- 
quently might appear out of proportion to the sol- 
emnity of the hour and the gravity of events now oc- 
curring. If I have thought it proper to indulge in 
this confidence, it is because I wish to express my 
admiration for the heroism of the French soldier, 
and at the same time express my pride in being at 
the side of the French and allied armies. 

It is much more important, I think, to announce 
that we are the precursors of an army that is firmly 
resolved to do its part on the Continent for the cause 
the American nation has adopted as its own. We 
come conscious of the historic duty to be accomplished 
when our flag shows itself upon the battlefields of the 
Old World. It is not my role to promise or prophesy. 
Let it suffice to tell you we know what we are doing 
and what we want. 

No conquering hero returning home could have had a 
more tremendous reception. Paris, and particularly the 
French authorities, had planned and hoped for a great 
demonstration, but it is doubtful whether even the most 
optimistic pictured the almost frantic crowds that all but 
blocked the progress of the automobiles. Men and women 
cheered themselves hoarse aYid flung masses of flowers into 
the cars. Parisians declared that the only event in their 
lifetime that approximated the reception in enthusiasm 
was the one accorded to King George of England, in the 
autumn of 1914. From hundreds of windows American 
flags were waved by men, women and children. Thousands 
of French girls, with flags pinned to their breasts and 
their arms filled with flowers bought from scanty sa"vdngS; 



354 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

fairly fought for a chance to get near enough to the tfars 
to hurl their offerings into the laps or on the shouiders 
of the astonished American officers. Americans apparently 
had not imagined the heights to which Parisian enthusiasm 
could rise. Boys, men and girls, and even old women, 
struggled to jump on the running-board of General Persh- 
ing's car and shake hands with him. Not General Persh- 
ing alone, but every American who was recognized was 
burdened with flowers. Crowds shouted themselves hoarse 
with cheers for America. From every housetop along the 
route, from every window, from every elevation, and from 
thousands upon thousands who choked every thoroughfare 
near the line of march there came a welcome that no Amer- 
ican in Paris could ever forget.^ 

The next day was a continuous succession of enthusiastic 
popular demonstrations, given wherever the American com- 
mander made his appearance. Great throngs filled the 
Place de la Concorde early in the day, hoping to catch a 
glimpse of him at his hotel. Hundreds of French soldiers 
on leave from the front, mingled in the throngs and gave 
hearty greetings to the troopers of the Second Cavalry 
who accompanied him. A large American flag waved over 
the hotel. Everywhere French and American colors were 
intertwined. After General Pershing had made a formal 
call on Ambassador Sharp he was escorted with military 
honors to the Palace of the Elysee to be presented to 
President Poincare who at 12 :30 o'clock gave him a 
state breakfast. Other guests were Premier Ribot, General 
Painleve, Marshal Joffre, Minister Viviani, and Ambassa- 
dor Sharp. 

* The Associated Press Report. 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 355 

WITH M. VIVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFFRE AT THE CHAMBER OF 
DEPUTIES 

General Pershing attended that afternoon a session of the 
Chamber of Deputies, where the setting- was worthy of the 
occasion, the large sweeping hemicycle showing hardly a 
Deputy absent, and the public galleries packed. In the 
diplomatic box facing the Tribune sat Mr. Sharp. Time 
after time as M. Viviani eloquently described the part 
America was ready to play at that solemn moment of des- 
tiny, the House rose to its feet, with General Pershing 
looking down on a sea of upturned, cheering faces of 
Deputies. The sitting began with an ovation for General 
Pershing, during which, for six or seven minutes, he had 
to stand in acknowledgment of the applause. M. Ribot 
then went to the Tribune and outlined the course of events 
in Greece, ending in the abdication of King Constantine. 
When he referred to the result as "extremely consoling," 
and added that "another source of comfort had come from 
America," the whole house rose and again applauded Gen- 
eral Pershing and Mr. Sharp. M. Ribot added that Presi- 
dent Wilson had said that we must conquer or submit. 
"I think we are all agreed," said M. Ribot, "that we shall 
conquer." Prolonged applause showed how France was 
behind M. Ribot. M. Viviani followed M. Ribot with an 
account of his mission to the United States in company with 
Marshal Joffre: 

Willingly I bow to the invitation that the chief 
of the cabinet [Mr. Ribot] extends accompanied by 
the favorable reception of the Chamber of Deputies. 
And I would ask permission of the members to group 
now some impressions of the mission with which I 
was charged. 



356 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

You will not expect from me a circumstantial re- 
cital of the glorious welcome, of which we merely 
mortal representatives were the recipients for France, 
the Immortal. Nor shall I recount in detail the af- 
fecting meetings with President Wilson, whom I shall 
always remember as tranquil, calm and firm, the man 
who after "Washington and Lincoln, holds in poised 
hand all the grandeur of the American nation. 

Yet, if I omit the splendor of receptions and pause 
not to rehear the cheers that rose from millions of 
voices to hail our beloved and imperishable France, 
I wish nevertheless to point out to you an act of 
justice, which for long your mind had in contempla- 
tion. 

Solely because I am one of you, and in waiver of 
century-old rules, it has been my unforgettable honor 
to be the bearer of the word of France's parliament 
to the United States and I aimed to span the wide 
distance that separates the two countries to convey 
for you to the American Republic the fraternal greet- 
ing of the French. 

What is the cause of the various vigorous and 
stalwart feelings of the American soul that decided 
the country to enter into the war ? Is it merely grati- 
tude felt for the French and for Lafayette? No 
one here or elsewhere can understand the place France 
holds in the great heart of the United States. No 
oration lacked a memorial to the young general and 
there was no building, draped with flags, on which 
the distinguished and aristocratic portraits of Wash- 
ington and Lafayette were not united. 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 357 

It is a great achievement that a country main- 
tain jointly pride and gratitude. And as I saw and 
listened, I, a son of the French Revolution, I said 
to myself the skeptics are wrong, for France, generous 
and noble has not in vain conceived and defended 
during centuries her high ideal of justice and honor. 
To-day her sons need only to lean down to harvest 
her undying seed in the field of humanity. 

Is it admiration for France? Here we must mete 
justice to our friends of America who have not been 
duped by Germany's clumsy insinuations. They 
realized that our people, despite heated and legitimate 
strife in times of peace, would not show themselves 
in war a race feeble, corrupt and fallen. 

Was it our courage? That we have forever in- 
scribed in the annals of glory. Yet it was not our 
courage. The soul of the people of the United States 
was stirred to the depths by our silence, our com- 
posure, our dignity — it was our very people standing 
upright and alert, people of the workshop and the 
furrow. The battle of the Marne was the thrill, 
Verdun the staying power. The spectacle of this 
capital in dread, yet calm, — worthy of the Paris 
which German calumny had labeled the capital of 
frivolity — vibrant with victory, though more dignified 
and calmer even, as if she were withholding her 
whole enthusiasm for that day when by force of 
our arms Right shall be forever established in the 
world. 

I understand the clamor of enthusiasm with which 
I was heard and the word of the governor chosen by 



358 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

several millions — ''Justice, if it takes the last dollar, 
the last man, the last heart-beat." The United States 
entered the war because it gauged its meaning ab- 
solutely, its character of morality and democracy. 
After study, understanding and preparation, and 
by testimony of which we in France had no actual 
need, the United States decided that the responsibil- 
ity for the war devolves upon the Central Empires, 
that the blood-stained hands are those of Emperors 
become criminal and that the time had come in which 
to settle the conflict between autocracy and democ- 
racy. 

As long as there shall exist in the world a per- 
verse force of mendacity, and predatory aggression 
democracies will survive in peril of the menace, after 
ten, twenty or thirty years, of the whirlwind of fire 
and sword of German brutishness. There can be no 
peace for us without victory, unless we lose respect 
for our graves, for our cradles, or unless we are pre- 
pared to see in barbarous rhythm every thirty years, 
the sons of our sons taking their place in the same 
death heaps as their fathers. 

But the United States has come into the war, 
determined valiantly to see it through, rendering us 
immediate assistance and resolved to cooperate with 
us for victory, thus ranking itself with our allies as 
the champions of universal Right. Universal Right! 
Could France have suffered that her heritage of 
human right, justice and liberty be taken from her? 
No. For three years we have been at war; political 
and economic burdens have become heavier; and be- 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 359 

side tlie cradle mothers think of the grave. Undeni- 
ably we have known every anguish. 

And afterward? Mr. Ribot has reminded us of 
what the future holds in store. "We must be victorious 
or submit to the enemy. There is no other choice. 

AT NAPOLEON^S TOMB — HIS SWORD AND GRAND CROSS 

A dramatic climax came next day when at the Invahdes 
were presented to General Pershing that he might hold 
them for a moment, the sword and grand cross cordon of 
the Legion of Honor that belonged to Napoleon, the most 
signal honor France could bestow on any man. Before that 
day not even a Frenchman had for years been permitted 
to hold those historic relics in his hands. Kings and Princes 
had been taken to the crypt that holds the body of the 
great Emperor, but they had only viewed his sword and 
cross through plate glass. Until that day these relics had 
not been touched since the time of Louis Philippe. 

General Pershing and his staff were conducted to the 
crypt by Marshal Joffre, who followed the precedent laid 
down by Napoleon, that only a Marshal of France might 
remain covered in his presence. After the great key had 
been inserted in the brass door of the crypt. Marshal Joffre 
and General Niox, Governor of the Invalides, stepped aside 
to permit General Pershing to face the door alone. Taking 
a deep breath, he stepped suddenly forward and with a 
single motion threw his arm straight out and turned the 
key. In a tiny alcove at one side of the crypt the Governor 
of the Invalides then unlocked the sword case, drew out 
the sword, raised it to his lips, and presented the hilt to 
General Pershing, who received it, held it at salute for a 
moment and then kissed the hilt. The same ceremony was 
foJlowed with the cross of the cordon of the Legion of 



360 BALFOUR, YIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Honor, General Pershing holding the cross to his lips 
before passing it back to the Governor. One of the staff 
officers said when the ceremony was over: "It was more 
than a historic moment. It was an epic one. General 
Pershing at the tomb of Napoleon will live in French 
history, as does Washington in prayer at Valley Forge. 
It would take some Victor Hugo to write about it prop- 
erly.^i 

AMERICAN REGULARS REACH FRANCE 

American regular troops arrived at a French port on 
June 26 and 27. They were met by frantic cheers from 
crowds that had gathered for hours before to welcome them. 
Enthusiasm rose to fever pitch when it was learned that 
the transports and convoys had successfully passed the 
submarine zone, news supplemented a few days later with 
details of two battles with submarines in which some of 
the submarines were sunk. Five torpedoes had been fired 
at the transports without hitting any of them. The troops 
were in excellent shape, enthusiastic over their successful 
trip and their reception, and eager for action. "With the 
harbor dotted with convoys, the streets of this seaport 
were filled with soldiers in khaki and with bluejackets. 
This advance guard contained thousands of seasoned regu- 
lars and marines, trained fighting men still wearing the 
tan of long service on the Mexican border. 

A new record had been set for the transportation of 
troops. Considering the distance covered and the fact that 
all preparations had to be made after the order to sail 
came from the White House on the night of May 18, it was 
believed that never before had a military expedition of this 
size been assembled, transported and landed without a 
mishap in so short a time. The only rival in magnitude 

* The New York Times. 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 361 

was the movement of British troops to South Africa in the 
Boer War, but that was made over seas unhampered by 
submarines, mines, or other obstacles. All the American 
troops had been armed and equipped by the United States. 
At their camp on French soil were soon to be stored sup- 
plies enough to keep them for months. 

General Pershing's forefathers were Alsatians, Frederick 
and John Pershing coming to America in 1749, landing at 
Baltimore. Frederick was the ancestor of General Persh- 
ing, who was the fifth in the line. In 1855 the General's 
father settled in Laclede, Mo., where the General was born. 
A public road in Alsace leading from the little town of 
Beauman is still called the Pershing Road. Frenchmen 
heard of the General's Alsatian ancestry with unconcealed 
joy, Alsatians with many a thought of it as an augury of 
a soon-to-be-realized Alsatian dream of almost fifty years. 
A delegation from the Alsace-Lorraine Republican Com- 
mittee called on him on June 29 and told him how proud 
they were that a descendant of their little country had 
come to France from America to fight for the triumph of 
their inalienable rights and for the restoration to France 
of her lost provinces. General Pershing was visibly moved 
when he replied that he was most happy to greet repre- 
sentatives of the valiant people who had suffered so deeply 
because of fidelity to their country. He had a warm place 
in his heart for Alsace, the land of his fathers. 

General Pershing was soon evoking from Parisians sin- 
cere comments on the energy with which he had taken up 
his tasks and in which he had shown the unceremonious 
directness of others among the world's conspicuous com- 
manders. The thing to be done was the important thing to 
him, not the formalities it might surround itself with. 
Once, when a question was raised as to who should "call 
first" — that is, he or the person whom he wished to meet — 



362 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

his earnest comment was, "The real point is, I must see 
him." 

Marshal Joffre, as one commentator put it, had now "en- 
listed in the service of the United States for the duration 
of the war." France had really lent him to us, so to speak 
— him its first soldier, its only marshal, in order that he 
might help General Pershing by placing at his disposal 
all that he and France had learned from experience in three 
years of war. Not alone was this information and Marshal 
Joffre's advice to be of great value to us; Marshal Joffre^s 
services, rendered in this way, were to be of perhaps greater 
value in their effect on public opinion in this country. He 
soon became known as "the godfather of the American 
Army" — a term of affectionate regard, similar in spirit 
and sympathy to the appellation of "Papa" Joffre, which 
he had received from Frenchmen early in the war. At 
the same time a convenient and familiar term was found 
for our private soldiers. As the British had been called 
"Tommies" and the French "Poilu," so now the Americans 
were known as "Sammies," and again as "Teddies." 

General Pershing and Marshal Joffre came at once into 
close cooperation, meeting constantly in Paris, now at the 
headquarters of one, now at those of the other. Crowds 
gathered at either place whenever these two were known to 
be in consultation. Once when both were at General Persh- 
ing's headquarters and Marshal Joffre was leaving. Gen- 
eral Pershing was seen to accompany him out of the build- 
ing and across the sidewalk to his automobile, where he 
opened the door of the car and after seeing the Marshal 
well seated, closed the door himself, each saluting the other 
as the car rolled away. Parisians saw something fine, 
something unusual, in that. 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 363 

MARSHAL JOFPRE INTERVIEWED 

Marshal Joffre on July 3 gave to an American newspaper 
correspondent^ a personal interview in Paris, at which, in 
reply to questions, he made a few comments on his visit 
to the United States and on the arrival in France of Gen- 
eral Pershing and the regular troops: 

I met General Pershing in America and was at 
once struck by his poise. My acquaintance with him 
here has confirmed my earlier impression. Fore- 
thought and steadiness seem to be characteristic of 
him. I do not think he would act hastily or rashly. 
He weighs his actions carefully. Of course, he is a 
fine soldier, with admirable training. In my judg- 
ment, America could not have placed an expeditionary 
force in better hands. As America has put so much 
of her resources in this enterprise, and as she is going 
to be all powerful in finishing this war, she is par- 
ticularly fortunate in securing a leader who thinks 
before he acts. We have talked much together, and 
I like his ideas on military matters as much as I ad- 
mire his fine personality. 

The arrival of General Pershing and his staff made 
an impression in France of the seriousness and 
strength of America. Now that the troops have 
landed the impression is renewed and strengthened. 
It shows that you are getting to work in good earnest. 
It is a fine beginning. I can only say, keep it up, 
increase the speed, and never stop until you have 
* Charles H. Grasty, representing the New York Times. 



364 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

accomplished what you set out to accomplish. The 
arrival of American troops on time and without a 
mishap reflects credit on your Government and en- 
courages the belief that the submarine does not pre- 
sent a barrier to the transport of troops across the 
ocean that cannot be overcome by the organization 
and utilization of your resources. 

All that has happened confirms my judgment of 
America as formed before and during my visit. I 
was very much impressed by the rapidity with which 
Americans made up their minds and still more by 
their quickness of action afterward. What I want 
to see, what I expect to see, is continuity of action on 
a rising scale ; no letup for a single moment. The way 
to win the war quickly is to bring to bear every ounce 
on and behind the fighting line. Peace will come 
through the hardest possible fighting at the earliest 
possible moment. With her resources of men and 
finance America will strike the finishing blow that 
will bring an end of hostilities. 

I came back from America convinced of what that 
country was doing and could do. What I said there 
I repeat now. Bring men here; bring them as fast 
as possible. Train them in trench and other Euro- 
pean methods here within the influence of actual war. 
That is the one school for a soldier. We want men, 
men, men. Not alone for actual fighting, but for 
work of all kinds. It is natural that the ranks of 
labor in France should have suffered depletion in these 
three years. We need men to work on roads, men 
to build and repair railroads, men for the telegraph 



i 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 365 

and telephone, men for lumbering, every sort of ca- 
pable labor— not all of it necessarily military or mili- 
tarized, but all contributing as truly and honorably 
to winning the war as the fighting itself. 

The deepest impression, perhaps, that I obtained 
of America was that of the combination of the two 
contrasting qualities in the American character. Al- 
though the people are great in their material interests 
and achievements, they have lofty and noble ideals. 
I mention two proofs. America comes into this war 
without a shadow of direct material interest and 
purely to secure and establish the independence of na- 
tions. The second proof is the veneration in which 
those who have striven for high ideals are held by the 
people. . The names of Lincoln, Washington, Grant, 
and Lafayette are universally revered. 

The crowds I saw in New York and those which 
welcomed General Pershing here are difficult to com- 
pare. The New York crowd can make a greater vol- 
ume of sound because it is bigger. We have been cut 
down by war. But I do not concede that any crowd 
could feel a deeper enthusiasm than ours on June 
13 felt for General Pershing. I want very much to go 
back after the war and take Mme. Joffre with me. 

A GREAT FOURTH OF JULY 

On July 3 a battalion of American regular troops that 
had landed from one of the transports a few days before, 
arrived in Paris to take part in a parade on July 4, in 
celebration of the American Day of Independence. Wildly 
enthusiastic crowds packed the streets through which they 



366 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

marched, waving American and French flags, while girls 
pinned bouquets and flags on soldiers' coats, and French 
soldiers on leave grasped the hands of Americans and 
marched beside them. Several times groups of shop girls 
on their way to work slipped through the police lines 
and kissed some of the soldiers — to their obvious embarrass- 
ment. A number of children knelt in the street as the 
regiment's flag was carried by. They were orphans from 
an institution in the neighborhood. 

To celebrate the Fourth of July, Paris turned out a 
crowd that probably no American city ever surpassed for 
size, enthusiasm and profusion of Stars and Stripes. The 
battalion that was about to leave for training behind the 
battle front, had that day its first official review in France, 
and became the center of the celebration. Everywhere the 
American flag was seen on public buildings, hotels and resi- 
dences; on automobiles, cabs and carts; on horses' bridles 
and on the lapels of pedestrians' coats. All routes leading 
to the Invalides, where a ceremony was to take place, were 
thronged before the battalion appeared. About the court 
of honor where it was to be drawn up with a detachment 
of French Territorials, buildings overflowed to the roofs 
with crowded humanity. Standing in the center were de- 
scendants of French soldiers who fought in the American 
Revolution. Inmates of the French Soldiers' Home — the 
Invalides — erect and soldierly in appearance in spite of 
gray hairs, stood behind as a guard of honor. Alongside 
was a delegation from Le Puy, the city nearest to the old 
landed estate which was the birthplace of Lafayette, carry- 
ing a lace-adorned flag for presentation to the American 
troops. 

The enthusiasm of the crowd reached its highest pitch 
when General Pershing, escorted by President Poincare, 
Marshal Joffre, and other high officials, passed along t^ 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 367 

review the Americans drawn up in square formation. Cheer- 
ing broke out anew when the American band struck up the 
"Marseillaise," again when the French band played "The 
Star-Spangled Banner," and when General Pershing re- 
ceived flags from the President. Salutations of "Vivent 
les Americains !" "Vive Pershing !" "Vivent les Etats Unis !" 
spoken over and over again by the crowd, greeted the 
American standard bearers as they advanced. The crowd 
had waited for three hours to witness a ceremony that 
was over in fifteen minutes. 

Outside, a greater crowd, covering the entire Esplanade 
of the Invalides, took up the cheers as Pershing's men 
marched away. The Cours de la Reine, the Alexander III 
bridge, leading to the Place de la Concorde, was black with 
people. Thousands of French soldiers, on leave from the 
front, were seen scattered along the route. Hundreds left 
the sidewalks and rushed forward to shake hands with the 
Americans. Other hundreds in trench-worn uniforms, 
stained and dingj', joined the marching troops on either side 
in columns. Some of them wore bandages on their heads; 
others had their arms in sling-s. Children ran forward 
throwing flowers in front of the marching Americans. 
Flowers were tossed through the air from sidewalks or 
came fluttering down from windows, to be caught up by 
American soldiers, who stuck them into the muzzles of their 
rifles, or tucked them into their belts. From every window 
women and girls waved handkerchiefs or flags. Children 
from all the primary schools in the quarter had been as- 
signed to best places. Thousands of them called out "Ted^ 
dy !" "Teddy !" "Teddy !" and threw flowers to the soldiers. 

Various other events, such as a great public meeting at 
the Sorbonne, the placing of a wreath by the Municipal 
Council at the foot of the statue of Washington in the 
Place des Etats Unis, and one by the French Society of 



368 BALFOUR, VIVIANI AND JOFFRE 

Army and Navy Veterans, marked the day. It was said at 
Police Headquarters, by officials familiar with demonstra- 
tions, that at least a million people must have seen the 
parade along its line of march. When the last man had 
passed, great crowds surged to the middle of streets, break- 
ing through the police and military guards and blocking 
traffic for a long time afterwards. More people were 
massed in the Tuileries Gardens than were seen on the 
Esplanade at the Invalides. Few could get even a glimpse 
of the parade as it came back from the Invalides, but all 
joined in a tremendous outburst of cheering that did not 
diminish in volume until the last man in the line had dis- 
appeared from view down the Rue de Rivoli. 

At the cemetery in Paris where Lafayette is buried, the 
battalion passed through the arched gateway leading to an 
old convent, and thence to the little burial-ground adjoin- 
ing. Here were gathered three or four hundred other 
persons, including prominent Americans and Frenchmen. 
In the presence of Ambassador Sharp, General Pershing 
and Marshal Joffre, a wreath was placed by the Americans 
on the plain stone slab above the grave. General Pershing, 
who occupied one of the few seats about the tomb, said he 
had intended to say nothing, but he felt so deeply the sig- 
nificance of the occasion that he did not desire it to pass 
without some expression on his part. He spoke earnestly 
of the determination in this war of the American people 
and the American Government, fighting as they were along- 
side their allies in Europe, to maintain the just cause of 
liberty and democracy. General Pershing's remarks were 
received with tremendous cheering. This cemetery is known 
as the Cemetery of Picpus, and lies in the old St. Antoine 
neighborhood, south of the Place de la Nation, and not 
far from the Bois de Vincennes. Some of the oldest families 
in France have buried their dead in Picpus. A part of it 



J 



\ 



AMERICAN FORCES IN ENGLAND— FRANCE 369 

was formerly known as the Cimetiere de Guillotines, 1370 
victims of the revolution having been buried there in 1793. 
The chapel, or oratory, which the cemetery adjoins, belongs 
to the nuns of the Sacre-Coeur de Jesus et de Marie. Lafay- 
ette died in 1837, his wife, the Comtesse de Noailles, who is 
also buried in Piepus, in 1807. 

Next day the battalion was off for the American train- 
ing camp behind the fighting line. President Poineare, at 
the conclusion of the day's ceremonies, sent a cablegram 
of felicitation to President Wilson. 



i 



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